US Unemployment Fuels Panama’s Expat Boom

Recently, a large handmade sign was hung between two lamp posts outside of the New York Stock Exchange. Addressed to the money barons inside it read, ”Jump you Bastards!” To says that there is blood in the streets of NYC’s financial district is akin to saying that things looked a little bad in Tienanmen Square when the tanks rolled into the square.

Oh how the mighty have fallen. In the midst of their descent, these former wunderkinds of Wall Street have begun reexamining their love affair with a noisy, dirty, crowded, extraordinarily expensive city that rarely treats anyone well for very long. The big apple has more worms than a bait box, and many of its former devotees are heading south to, you guessed it, Panama!

Is our mounting wave of yuppy aged expats really a surprise? Panama’s is a new frontier rife with economic opportunity. Entrepreneurial opportunity is abundant in Panama. Savvy English-speaking professionals are in constant demand, and the international finance and banking industries provide real opportunities for Wall Street refugees.

You would think that leaving a place where stress levels are the only thing that’s higher than the cost of living would be easy. Even though a move to the affordable climes of sunny Panama would seem to be a no-brainer, many would be expats find it hard to make the move.

Americans have an anti- international move mentality that is unique among first world cultures. Europeans and Canadians think nothing of striking out around the globe in search of better weather and richer fortunes. Americans on the other hand, tend to stay close to home within their own borders.

Many expats report that family was their biggest obstacle. If this proves to be the case with you remember, the difference between a ride from New York to Panama, and one from New York to Miami, is less time than the hour required to take the train and cab from downtown to the airport.

For more information on living in Panama, click here.