Europe is not like the USA, there is a significant cultural and language divide between states that stops people from hopping over the fence like that. if i were to pick up and move to california from New York, there would be almost 0 change (other then the stress of moving etc), not quite the same leap from spain to germany even if they are geographically closer
I do understand the language divide at least. But given a choice between unemployment and, say, working in a place where you don't speak the language, I know I'd pick work any day! At least you're picking up work skills and a second language, which is far better than sitting at home twiddling your thumbs.
But it's rarely as simple as a.) paycheck, different language or b.) no paycheck.
What about family, friends, hobbies, etc. There's plenty of people not willing to move to a different town/city/village in their own country for a job, yet alone to a different country.
That last sentence you write exposes your cultural bias towards work and skills. Its not quite the same in Spain. Just ask the architect next door, who with 2 years of unemployment is sitting around, waiting... Well, he is fixing his house up a bit...
That said, another out of work neighbor started a small business and my wife and I built him a small website and bootstrapped it a bit with an adwords 75 euro card. I wish more folks were like him...
I moved from Spain to the Netherlands with almost 0 change. Working on IT helps, of course, but it's still pretty easy. Jump on a plane, register on the city council, there you go.
I moved from the Netherlands to Spain (the south) with 0 change. Working in IT helps; I work remotely and do exactly the same as I did when I lived in the Netherlands. If you want to work you can, anywhere.
We actually were looking for IT people in Malaga, but it seems that people don't really want to work. I know enough companies from 'the north' looking for people in the south; people are just not applying and if they do they mostly ask for weird conditions... I know dev jobs for at least 100 people at different companies which cannot be filled in Malaga.
