In The News

Does a Growing Worker Shortage Threaten China's Low-Cost Advantage?

May 15, 2006
China’s hold on the title of low-wage manufacturing giant may be in jeopardy. This year, a job program designed to entice migrant farmer-laborers into Chinese cities fell short of expectations, as many workers chose local rural employment. This reflects a general labor shortage in regions of the country and possible fallout from governmental tax and labor policies that encouraged farming. With...

Globalization’s Grave Challenges for the West

Robert A. Levine May 12, 2006
Globalization will proceed despite protectionism, and the West would be wise to devise policies that incorporate globalization’s inevitability. Without such policies, the standard of living in both the US and Europe could diminish: In Europe, slow growth will leave the continent trailing the US and Asia, making it ultimately dependent on tourism. The US may abandon its own guiding principles of...

Work in Progress: Prosperity in Home Countries May Not Stem Tide of Migrants to the US

Joel Millman May 9, 2006
Economists and politicians long assumed that increasing jobs in impoverished nations could slow illegal immigration from those countries. Yet one study suggests that increased opportunities in home countries like Mexico or Brazil promote skill development. Many workers still want to apply new skills in the nation that offers the best pay and standard of living. Analysts suggest that the chance to...

An Ugly Side of Free Trade: Sweatshops in Jordan

Steven Greenhouse May 4, 2006
The story of abusive sweatshops is familiar, but still haunting. Reports suggest that as quickly as retailers and critics improve conditions in one location, new factories and abuses emerge in other nations. Jordan is the center of attention for impoverished people desperate for work and new criticism. A report from the National Labor Committee, based in the US, points out that workers are...

Immigrants Take to US Streets in Show of Strength

Randal C. Archibold May 3, 2006
US Congress is divided about how to control illegal immigration. In 2005, the US House of Representatives approved legislation to increase border security, making illegal immigration a felony along with providing assistance to such immigrants. The US Senate bill would give some illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. The US has about 11 million illegal immigrants. As long as Congress remains...

East Asia’s Troubled Waters – Part III

William Underwood May 2, 2006
The bitterness from invasions and atrocities can last for generations, and international protocol calls for one-time aggressors to apologize for mistakes and extend some symbolic reparations, even if miniscule compared with the true costs of suffering. Before and during WWII, Imperial Japan invaded cities along the Asia Pacific coast, particularly north China, abducting young men to toil in...

Moment of Truth

Robert Scheer May 1, 2006
US polls cite illegal immigration a major concern, and politicians are divided over solutions. Yet the personal economic decisions by most US citizens tend to show more concern about low prices than protecting jobs or wages on the whole. Author Robert Scheer labels the so-called immigration “crisis” as fiction. Throughout history, whenever perceptions emerge about national security threats, low...