[Vigilanteman]

The other interesting side effect was that industries in Japan with a high concentration of foreign workers raised the prevailing wage of the industry and attracted more Japanese into the field.

For example, when I first went there in 1988, your security traders who worked the exchanges especially in the American and European time zones were mainly Europeans and Americans.

It was very much a niche market as few Japanese investors were all that interested and fewer Japanese business school graduates were interested in working for a Goldman Sachs when more stable jobs were available with a big marquee Japanese company.

The high compensation package in the field changed all that. Even with a shrinking population overall, the Japanese dominate this industry today. In the late 1980s, you could get hired as a foreigner with just a little better skillset than the average bear in the industry; today it has to be way better.

[Zhang Fei]

[The high compensation package in the field changed all that. Even with a shrinking population overall, the Japanese dominate this industry today. In the late 1980s, you could get hired as a foreigner with just a little better skillset than the average bear in the industry; today it has to be way better.]

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Any idea why Japan is an also-ran in global finance? Last I looked, both banks and brokerages are bottom of the barrel in terms of profits, whether Nomura or Mitsubishi Bank (or whatever mashup name exists this year).

[kearnyirish2]

That’s interesting; it seems most developed countries protect their workers better than we do. As I understand it, Canada makes it hard for foreigners to legally take Canadian jobs.