Moved

Three guys and an undersized truck helped us move yesterday. The lead guy was from Australia, the others from France and Estonia here on working holiday visas. The working holiday visa system seems to be huge here, though I don't really have a good sense of the overall politics. I know from personal experience that the universities are making a lot of money from foreign students (both in Australia and in the US). I know there are a lot of companies downtown Sydney that cater to young people working and travelling (backpackers). I have no idea what percentage of these people end up becoming permanent residents or marrying a local; or whether, like in the US, almost all vegetable and fruit cultivation is handled by immigrant workers (in the US, a fair percentage of them being undocumented workers).

UK - just as many hoops?

Surprise conversation of the day... the guy giving us an estimate on a heating system emigrated from the UK four years ago. He did heating and plumbing in the UK, and he does that in Sydney. It turns out he had just as many hassles in terms of obtaining proper work qualifications. He was led to believe that he could easily get his license based on his UK license and education. Not so. Had to go back to school, now for three years to get the same qualifications. He also talked about the market size and mark-up of products. Certainly the market is smaller here, but it could be larger - more old homes in Sydney might have heat - if there weren't such a mark up and those protecting their share of the pie here. Of course, everyone wants those who are licensed to be competent - but he says the education here was not as extensive for gas systems - safer?