Looking for #chemjobs in Europe?

In this week's C&EN, stories of European chemists having difficulty finding positions in their original countries:

With high unemployment and the potential for underemployment in their home countries, young European chemists like Reguillo Carmona are increasingly seeking—and accepting—positions in foreign countries. Many look to European countries with stronger economies, such as Germany and Austria. Others are considering a move to the U.S., where the unemployment rate is also high but employers are still recruiting. 

Spain is among the European countries hardest hit by the recession. The country’s unemployment rate jumped from 8.3% in 2007, when the global recession began, to 21.2% in July 2011, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Countries such as Greece, Italy, Latvia, and Lithuania have also seen their unemployment rates rise. In contrast, Germany’s unemployment rate dropped from 8.7% to 6.6% between 2007 and July 2011, and Austria’s, from 4.4% to 3.7% over the same period. [snip] 

...For citizens of European Union countries, emigrating from one EU country to another is relatively simple, and countries such as Germany and Switzerland are becoming a magnet for job seekers. With strong chemical industries, these two countries provide more job opportunities than countries such as Spain and Italy, which concentrate on academic research. Sarah Ulmschneider-Renner, talent resourcing at BASF in Ludwigshafen, Germany, notes that nearly 40% of all scientists the company has hired in Germany this year have been of a non-German nationality. BASF has “observed a notable increase in numbers of applications, particularly from Spain, over the last six months for positions in Germany,” she says. “Overall, the number of foreign* applications for R&D positions at BASF is continuously growing.”

I suppose it's not a surprise that a successful and core chemical manufacturing corporation like BASF is still hiring. Also, it's not a surprise that PIIGS countries are experiencing outmigration. Nevertheless, an interesting article. Best wishes to them (and all of us), too.

*Do Germans consider other folks from Europe to be 'foreigners'? What does this say about the European project? I don't know enough about the situation to comment substantively, but I'm somewhat surprised. Someone needs to draw a map of 'Europe according to the French and Germans' in the style of the New Yorker's map of Manhattan and the world.