Meet the Zippies

Wearing clothes other than the traditional Indian outfits, India's youth of today have become the first generation in the country to welcome global trade and the western jobs that come with it "with a zip in the stride." In this column in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman shows us the "zippies" phenomenon in India's many big cities like Bangalore. With 54% of the country's population under the age of 25, the zippie generation is pouring into the metropolises to find jobs that multinational corporations have outsourced from developed countries like the US to India, where well-educated, English-speaking workers who know how to handle high-tech jobs, come much cheaper. While the zippies are rejoicing over their new jobs, many in the US are becoming more and more concerned about their own welfare. As many economists have asserted, Friedman agrees that this outsourcing trend is good for the economy in the long-run, but "managing this phenomenon will require a public policy response." Some of the policy options that people have been talking about – job training, life-long learning, wage insurance, and further unionization – should be taken seriously now. It's "time to get real," says Friedman. – YaleGlobal