In The News

Sarkozy's Victory; Ca Y'est, C'est Fini!!!

June 5, 2007
Nicolas Sarkozy, the son of a Hungarian immigrant to France, campaigned for the French presidency on promises to restrict immigration. Sarkozy policies would limit benefits for immigrants and discourage applicants who cannot provide “qualified labor,” reports this editorial from the Daily Trust in Abuja, Nigeria. After his election, Sarkozy also promised to serve all of France and selected a...

Globalization's Gains Come With a Price

Bob Davis June 3, 2007
After Mexico opened its economy to foreign trade and investment in the 1990s, low-income workers benefited, but only for a short while. “As trade, foreign investment and technology have spread, the gap between economic haves and have-nots has frequently widened, not only in wealthy countries like the U.S. but in poorer ones like Mexico, Argentina, India and China as well,” reports an article in...

Lack of Women in Eastern Germany Feeds Neo-Nazis

June 1, 2007
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, many East Germans left their communities in search of education, jobs and other opportunity. But the Berlin Institute for Population and Development reports that most of the emigrants have been young women – with some communities in East Germany losing up to 25 percent of their young women. East Germany has the distinction of leading Europe with such a gender...

What Offshoring Wave?

Robert J. Samuelson May 30, 2007
The burst of technology at the turn of the century had pundits predicting that all manner of professional jobs – any position that required creating or handling data that could be transferred online – would move away from Western Europe and the US to India, China and other nations with low wages and plenty of skilled workers. Economists predicted that about one-fifth of jobs in the US could...

Worker Visas Intensify Debate on Immigration

Pamela Constable May 29, 2007
The US Congress hears two different tales when it comes to the need for high-tech workers: Older workers, once highly paid, complain that they cannot obtain work and must seek jobs in other industries; the high-tech industry complains of a dire shortage of workers with computer and math skills. A proposed US immigration reform bill gives priority to skilled labor and would almost double the...

A Book Review: Bound Together

Paul Freedman May 17, 2007
Globalization, the process of growing interconnectedness, is not a new phenomenon. All that’s new is the ease and speed of the connections. In his book, Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal Online, follows the exploits of historical traders, preachers, adventurers and warriors in shaping our world, and identifies their modern counterparts at work today. The categories provide insights into...

Moroccan Immigrants, Spanish Strawberries and Europe's Future

Daniela Gerson May 14, 2007
When strawberries ripen, Spanish farmers seek short-term workers who can pick the berries carefully and quickly – and then return home, rather than stay and cause any problems in European communities that have come to resent illegal immigrants. And the strawberry farmers are adamant about their employment preferences: fit woman under the age of 40 who are married and have children in neighboring...