The United States does lead the world in one category, however: closures. In 2009, 27 fabs closed worldwide, with 15 of them in the United States (followed by four in Europe, four in Japan, two in China, one in Korea and one in Southeast Asia). The number of closures last year almost doubled from the previous year, when 15 fabs were shut down worldwide, again, with the largest number in the United States (at four).
Why is the United States losing out on the next phase of the semiconductor boom? "It's not direct labor," says George Scalise, president of the Semiconductor Industry Association. "It's not materials -- they cost the same everywhere. If you go down the list of expenses, every-thing is the same, except for tax policies and subsidies."
The unemployment rate among those with advanced degrees is around 5%.
This guy may need to move to find employment, but there should be no reason why he can’t find a job in his field or some other field.
Anyone recall that conversation where Steve Jobs told Prez Zippy the “jobs aren’t coming back!” Zippy did not like being told something he did not want to hear. Oh yeah, what are we thinking — Prez Zippy will always think he was smarter and more creative than than Steve Jobs ever was!
It's not that easy at least with respect to Japan. The large majority of jobs in Japan require that you are fluent in Japanese, though certainly not all. The 人事 folks certainly don't want to be writing every edict both in Japanese and in English.
For that matter, there are traditional Japanese hiring practices aren't going to work so well for any foreign hire that isn't a very recent college graduate, even if the person is fluent in Japanese. Then there are also the Japanese government documentation requirements for foreign hires that the 人事 need to be conversant with.
The upshot is that it is possible to get hired in Japan, but it's not usually trivial. (Yes, I know; some people just hop on an airplane and manage to pull it off, but they often end up breaking Japanese immigration laws — usually the strictures on guest visas. I myself don't think that it is a good idea to go to a foreign country and blatantly violate their laws.)