Shocked so many young people seem to be moving abroad

[lonielou]

First off, I know this anecdotal and perhaps someone here will have stats on this but I have one DD, been chatting to her tonight. She is 23, her school year are 23/24 now and we were chatting about what everyone from her small school are doing now. She was in a class of 14 at a prep school in south west London, we have discovered of her class

2x Live in Australia
1x USA
1x Hong Kong
1x Dubai
1x Kuwait
1x Germany
1x France

That leaves 5, DD is one of those and looking to move in the future but is still studying.

DD has no contact with 1 of these people so in theory could be living abroad.

Now I know this is anecdotal and she may just be in a particularly adventurous group but I also know several friends with kids living abroad, Australia and the Middle East seeming to be the big ones.

AIBU to be shocked by this? It feels like a lot of young people (all with the degrees or doing degrees) who could contribute so much to society just leaving!

A few of them will come back in their 30s. It's not new though. Until the 80s, the UK had net emigration. Out of my class of 30 at university more than half emigrated after we graduated into the financial crash, mostly permanently. It's a bit contagious. If your friends do it, it's less scary.

I'm late 40s and most of the people I went to uni with in the 90s now live abroad - US, Oz, NZ primarily. I just wish I had the foresight to do the same thing when I was younger when it was easier to get visas etc. So I don't think it's anything new really. We live a comfortable life but like most people earning the same, it does feel like we should be more comfortable than we actually are. I feel for the younger generation. They've been totally shafted.

That shouldn’t be allowed. The cost of a medical degree to the tax payer is astronomical so students should be made to work in the NHS for say 5 years before being allowed to move abroad so at least the UK citizens get the benefit.

Another reason the UK is messed up.

Good for them. At least they can escape.

I work for a large company with a big graduate intake each year. For about the last 5 years we have less and less Brits starting in the graduate program. It’s mostly foreign students now who want to stay in the UK after they graduate who join us. A) I don’t know where all the British grads are working and B) Living in the UK is attractive to many from Asia - but not the Brits it seems.

Do you blame them? I don’t. If I was at the start of my life instead of the end you wouldn’t see me for dust.

I’ll think they’ll find Germany has its own economic problems

The US? OK well social inequality is even worse there.

I am encouraging mine to look overseas, we are very mobile so have lots of options.

The people leaving the UK can see what's happening and they are generally highly educated and almost certainly potential net contributors. Unfortunately the people coming into the country are unskilled and need lots of additional support.

I also think there's been a change in attitudes to 'leaving family' because the world is smaller and people recognise they can easily keep in touch whilst building a new social network and life for their children.

You Brits are so weird about emigration. It’s completely normal, as is spending some time living and working overseas.

Yes. Probably kids with a well-developed sense of entitlement.

It's not just the young. Two sets of friends have moved to France in the last 2 or 3 years, one couple recently retired there and the other couple both do jobs that they can do anywhere. Another set of friends retired to France in the noughties.

Another couple have a second home in the Italian lakes and are considering making it their main home.

I can't blame them. The UK has been governed entirely in the interests of OAPs for as long as I can remember - Brexit, the triple lock, no effort at all made to address soaring house prices and housing costs, constant opposition to building anything ever at local level generally spear-headed by middle class Civic Society 60 somethings. Why stay?

As an Irish person I sort of take it for granted that people will live abroad at least for a few years but often for good. This is especially true of graduates in certain disciplines.

Because I fell in love with a Brit who was on holiday in my home country. He refused to live in my country so we lived in a few other countries before settling in the UK. Now we're divorced and I'm back where I started, just with more wrinkles and a healthier bank account.

Not sure why you're shocked. Life in the uk is increasingly bleak.

Grass is always greener on the other side. Every country has its own problems.

I know two people who worked in the US for a few years during their 20s, and both hated it and were desperate to come back by the end. The culture is very different. They particularly hated the long working hours and having very little holiday compared with the UK. Also having to drive everywhere made everything a hassle. Similar with Australia. People I know who moved there wanted to come back as it wasn't what they expected at all. I also think that the housing problem in Australia is even worse than the UK.

I think it's a good thing if young people want to go and live abroad and experience something different for a few years, but I think more often than not, they want to return after a couple of years.

Australia: it’s going to be hell there when the climate crisis really bites.
USA: who would want to live in a Trumpian dystopia?
Canada: maybe ok.

Europe: they don’t want us any more.
UK: we’re stuck in a post-Tory nightmare. Not sure Labour will be able to get us out of this mess.

I'm not surprised, job opportunities are limited and life is very expensive in the UK.
My youngest son is currently in Australia and hoping to stay there long term.
I miss him terribly but hope he does stay there.

I don't think that's true at all. Irish grads heading off have traditionally left with the clothes on their back, parchment in hand, and a willingness to rough it until they can afford decent digs.

Why would they not. UK is absolutely direct. Wevshad the chance to move about 5 years ago, regret we didn't now.
UK is doomed and won't be a Christian country by 2050.

Young people move! Out of my school friends from Dublin, two of us now live in the UK, one in France, one in Australia, two in Dublin, and two elsewhere in Ireland. Same with my parents generation, and we have family all over the world.

Most of the people I work with here in the UK are from the EU or Australia or India or a hundred other places. Most have every intention of staying here - the only ones leaving are the Russian or Russia-affiliated ones, and they are moving to Cyprus.

This.

Tories have fucked this country , it will take years to fix.

I get it, I worked in a few different countries when I was younger. Ended up coming back to the uk for personal reasons. Only meant to stay 6 months to a year but I met someone and we’ve been together for over 10 years now. If I became single again I would be off to somewhere in Europe in a heartbeat. We are planning to move to another country when we retire. Somewhere warm.

Its a new experience to live abroad, and the uk feels so different to mainland Europe, and not in a good way. Expat life is fun and you meet all sorts of different people. I think the younger generation get to see so much more of the world from behind a screen so they get the desire to go to these places and can build an idea of where they want to live a lot earlier. It’s also so easy to build friendships with people from around the world now.

I’m encouraging mine to move abroad when they have finished their education. Personally feel there is a lot more opportunities out there for them than there is currently in the UK.

Few other parents I know are also doing the same with their kids as well.