In The News

Not Disclosing ESG Data: Wall Street Journal

Maitane Sardon September 29, 2019
Investors prefer hearing about environmental, social and governance impacts from companies rather than surprise announcements from the media or government investigations. The term ESG investments was coined in 2005. “[W}hile companies that don’t disclose environmental and social data may not always lose investors, they are more often being passed over by new investors, in favor of firms with...

Destinations for Migrants: OECD

September 19, 2019
Migration was up 2 percent for OECD countries in 2018, with 5.3 million new permanent migrants. European OECD nations combined receive the most permanent migrants; the United States is the top destination followed by Germany. Asylum seekers have declined, and most are from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Venezuela. Countries continue to adjust migration procedures, with caps and ceilings, preference...

The CIA and Diversity: BBC

Matthew Syed September 18, 2019
Numerous commissions have reviewed the activity leading up to the 9/11 attacks, hunting for strategies that might have prevented the threat. Of course, detecting threats in advance is challenging, but there were clues – reports of Saudi men attending flight school with no interest in landing. The problem may have been a systemic lack of diversity, notes Matthew Syed. The CIA has no trouble hiring...

Unions Kill Manufacturing? South China Morning Post

Zhou Zin September 16, 2019
Consumers gravitate toward low prices, and companies have sought low cost labor to compete. In the early 20th century, US companies relocated from union-dominated northern states to the South, and since the 1970s, manufacturing shifted toward China and other countries with low wages and standards. The Chinese owner of a car glass factory based in Ohio blames unions for a decline in US...

Nursing Brain Drain: Inquirer

Michael L. Tan September 14, 2019
The Philippines educates and trains nurses for work overseas, but the number available for workplaces at home is sinking. Fewer people enter nursing or pass the board exams. Turnover rates are high with dissatisfaction over wages. “Between 2012 and 2017, 92,277 nurses left to work overseas,” explains Michael Tan for the Inquirer. “That’s more than the total number of nurses who passed the board...

Battle Over US Green Cards: Wall Street Journal

Lindsay Wise September 8, 2019
Skilled foreigners with US job offers obtain green card approvals, but wait years for permanent status. “The logjam stems from U.S. rules that limit any one country to 7% of all employment-based green cards,” reports Lindsay Wise for the Wall Street Journal. “More than 660,000 of those approved but waiting are from India.” US Congress, polarized over comprehensive immigration reform, generally...

Indian IT Fears US H-1B Moves: Economic Times

August 20, 2019
The United States, in efforts to slow legal immigration, is planning changes for the H-1B visa process that allows skilled workers from around the world to work in the United States. One regulation would “mandate employers to register without paying the H-1B visa fees of those employees they intend to sponsor” and a “lottery system would shortlist people for the work permit.” About 70 percent of...