France's Brain Drain

It appears not everyone is in love with the French welfare state.The American Thinker reports:

finding a job and getting funding are only the start of the problems that French scientists face. The French scientific system, like the rest of the French economy, is riddled with bureaucracy and rigid hierarchies that stifle innovation and do not reward merit. Researchers hired under government auspices become civil servants and have positions for life, regardless of performance. This of course makes it extremely difficult for young researchers to get their foot in the door, let alone get their own laboratories.

Typical of this trend is a young immunologist interviewed last year by The Scientist, a bi-weekly news magazine. The immunologist, recently returned from a postdoc abroad, explained that in 2004 there were only five positions open in her field. “I’ve been back for 6 months,” she said, “and my only desire is to leave again. It saddens me because I was trained by France. We don’t all want to settle abroad.”

It’s no wonder that many French scientists are heading for greener pastures outside of France. Their destination of choice is the United States, where a talented researcher can work on the cutting edge of his chosen discipline, have more autonomy and earn three times or more what he could back home.

France isn't the future of anything much but decline.