In The News

Inflows to the East are a Problem Too

Luke Allnutt April 20, 2004
While Western Europe worries about droves of people pouring across their borders from the newest members of the European Union, immigration into Eastern Europe goes unnoticed. But there are already signs that countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Hungary are shifting from states of net emigration to ones combining emigration, immigration, and transit, according to a recent survey by...

Rocking the Boat from Warsaw

Ian Traynor April 19, 2004
Even though it won't become a full EU member until May 1, Poland has been stirring up controversy and posing challenges to other member states. As recently as last December, Poland blocked adoption of a new EU constitution, arguing that a proposed re-structuring of voting rights would mean that the terms of its accession were altered after it had already joined. As the months since have...

Looking for a Villain, and Finding One in China

Eduardo Porter April 18, 2004
A couple years ago, economists warned that China was exporting deflation to the US. Now that is over, but many still see China as the problem. To some, China is a big cause of inflation, and economists, businessmen and politicians have blamed it for every economic woe. "China is choking off the profits of American companies with its hunger for commodities pushing up the price of raw...

A Matter of More Than Economics

Martin Wolf April 13, 2004
As the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) opened up to more and more immigrants to satisfy their domestic labor needs, many have started thinking about the implications for such sizable immigration. Martin Wolf, columnist for the Financial Times, says that the choice for more immigration should not just be based on economic incentives, but also on the values of a country's citizens...

Singapore Workers Tempering Job Expectations: Survey

Chiang Yin Pheng April 13, 2004
A recent survey of Singapore workers shows that they have resigned themselves to the volatile conditions of their globalized economy. Most of the workers polled recognized that pay cuts were inevitable if their company faired poorly, and layoffs were likely if business competition stiffened. The survey found that the better educated and highly skilled were more likely to accept job cuts than were...

Outsourcing, Turned Inside Out

Ken Belson April 11, 2004
While most Americans today have heard about and many already been alarmed by the outsourcing of jobs overseas, some others might not be as worried; those include the employees of South Korean semiconductor company Samsung in Austin, Texas. The company just announced that it would pump another $500 into its Texas plant, adding an additional 300 jobs to its 700-people workforce. Samsung is not...

A Shortage of Seasonal Workers Is Feared

Eduardo Porter April 10, 2004
As the summer approaches, many American companies have started their seasonal worker recruitment process, but when employers went to the US Departments of Labor and Homeland Security to submit their visa applications for their foreign employees, they found out that this year's 66,000 limit for the H-2B visa, a visa for temporary foreign workers, was already reached, putting many of the...