Donald Trump does not like immigration to the USA from El Salvador, Haiti and African countries. “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump asked at a meeting with congress members at the White House.
Trump suggested the USA should instead focus its immigrant entry policy on countries such as Norway.
But the more interesting question is why would a Norwegian worker want to go to the USA to work?
The Norwegian worker would likely have about 26% more free time. Employed persons in Norway work an average of 1408 hours a year while in the USA the average is 1788 hours.
Norwegian workers are entitled to 21 working days, or about 1 month’s annual leave a year. The United States is the only developed nation that treats paid time off as a perk rather than a right. Decisions about payment for vacation, sick leave and federal holidays are up for negotiation between employer and employee. A study by US-based Centre for Economic and Policy Research found that nearly one in four private-sector workers do not receive any paid vacation time.
While there is no generally legislated minimum wage in Norway, minimum wages effectively apply in certain sectors through general application of collective agreements negotiated with unions. For example a cleaner in Norway is entitled to a minimum payment of US $16.34. The average cleaner’s wage in the USA is $10.46 an hour. An unskilled construction worker in Norway receives a minimum of about US $23.12 per hour. Construction workers in the USA earn a median salary of US $15.34.
Plus if you are a Norwegian you are also far less likely to be jailed, murdered or have a child die in infancy.
In terms of general economic outlook, the financial position of the Norwegian Government is strong. Norway saves state revenue from the petroleum sector in the world’s second largest sovereign wealth fund, now valued at almost $850 billion and uses the fund’s return to help finance public expenses.
In the USA long-term economic problems include stagnation of wages for lower-income families, inadequate investment in deteriorating infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population and sizable current account and budget deficits – including significant budget shortages for state governments.