Michael Ross (Aust, Qld)
June 15, 2003, 10:38 PM
There seems to be an imbalance to success when migrants are added to the numbers.
From the outside, migrants appear to have a higher proportion of successful people from their numbers than people born within the country.
And this out-of-whack ratio applies to all western countries - migrants succeed in Australia more than Australians, migrants succeed in the US more than people born in the US, migrants succeed in the UK more than people born there.
We can, in an initial and dismissive way, attribute this to some kind of work ethic - they work harder.
And while that may be the case, that would be an observed result of something else.
In other words... they tend to do jobs other people don't want to do. They tend to do menial tasks. "Idiot work." Often, it is thought, they do these jobs because they don't have the formal qualifications to do anything better (but what does "better" mean?).
And while that may be true, there are many natural born citizens who also work those jobs and who do not succeed.
Without formal qualifications many start their own little businesses. But again, if starting a business was all that mattered than plenty of natural born citizens would also go on to the success migrants do. But it doesn't happen.
As a group, more successes come from migrants than from other groups.
Why is it so?
There is one thing all migrants have in common that gives them an advantage over natural born citizens. It is something all natural born citizens can also have, if they want to.
Before I reveal it I want to hear what others think it is...
So why do migrants tend to succeed more so than natural born citizens?
Michael Ross
From the outside, migrants appear to have a higher proportion of successful people from their numbers than people born within the country.
And this out-of-whack ratio applies to all western countries - migrants succeed in Australia more than Australians, migrants succeed in the US more than people born in the US, migrants succeed in the UK more than people born there.
We can, in an initial and dismissive way, attribute this to some kind of work ethic - they work harder.
And while that may be the case, that would be an observed result of something else.
In other words... they tend to do jobs other people don't want to do. They tend to do menial tasks. "Idiot work." Often, it is thought, they do these jobs because they don't have the formal qualifications to do anything better (but what does "better" mean?).
And while that may be true, there are many natural born citizens who also work those jobs and who do not succeed.
Without formal qualifications many start their own little businesses. But again, if starting a business was all that mattered than plenty of natural born citizens would also go on to the success migrants do. But it doesn't happen.
As a group, more successes come from migrants than from other groups.
Why is it so?
There is one thing all migrants have in common that gives them an advantage over natural born citizens. It is something all natural born citizens can also have, if they want to.
Before I reveal it I want to hear what others think it is...
So why do migrants tend to succeed more so than natural born citizens?
Michael Ross
