Where the Jobs Are

   Vice President Joe Biden noted that over the next few years, some six million children in Central America will reach working age. With few jobs available at home, what will they do and where will they go?
 Separately, the Department of Commerce issued another report of an improving American economy: GDP rose in the fourth quarter of 2014 by 2.6 percent.   
   It ain't hard to figure, folks. Workers will go where the jobs are, as millions before them, from many other countries, have done in the past.
   Meanwhile, growth performance in Canada "has been solid," according to a report from the International Monetary Fund, even though that growth "has yet to translate into strong investment and hiring." The Canadian unemployment rate is 6.9 percent, the IMF said, and inflation is 2 percent.
   And while the unemployment rate in Mexico is the lowest in six years, at 3.76 percent, jobless rates in other Central American countries are higher: Honduras, 4.5 percent; and El Salvador, 5.9 percent. That, however, does not take into account the violence factor, and some experts question the accuracy of those statistics.
   Biden, writing in an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, said President Obama will ask Congress for funding to assist Central American countries in economic development. This in itself is a good idea, both morally and economically -- prosperity in other nations will open more markets for U.S. exports -- but for other reasons, as well. If there are jobs available in a safe and secure region, people may well opt to stay home.
   If not, they will do as millions of others have done for centuries. They will go where the jobs are, and where they can care for their families in safety. Call it the Land of Opportunity.