The Huffington Post this week reports on “9 Countries With The Best Jobs,” taken from a report by survey company Gallup and non-profit advocacy group Meridian International called “Where the Great Jobs Are.”
What’s unique about the Gallup/Meridian survey is that, in looking at employment markets around the world, it goes beyond a country’s unemployment rate—the most used jobs metric in the world—and tries to get at the quality of local jobs.
Because no metric exists to measure the quality of peoples’ jobs, Gallup has come up with its own definition of a “good job:” 30+ hours per week of consistent work with a a paycheck from an employer.
Gallup claims that, “1.3 billion out of the world’s roughly 5 billion adults have a good job. Of these 1.3 billion, roughly 12% are engaged at work and have great jobs. Out of a global workforce of an estimated 3.2 billion adults who are working or looking for work, only 5% (161 million people) have a great job.”
And, where will you find most of these great jobs today? Panama and the United States come out tops with 13% of their workforce enjoying “great jobs.” Close behind are Chile and Costa Rica with 11%; Russia and the UAE with 10%; Kuwait, Mongolia, and Uruguay with 9%.
As for those places to avoid… Only 1% of people in Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Niger, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Nepal have “great jobs.”
Editor’s Note: Of course, we’re not surprised to see Panama make the top of the list. Though we wouldn’t say it’s particularly easy to find a great job in Panama, it’s certainly one of the world’s best places to start (or grow) your own business while enjoying an adventure in one of the world’s top retirement havens. To keep up with the best opportunities for living, investing, and doing business in the country, make sure you’re reading Panama Letter.
