In The News

The Good Life After Work: Project Syndicate

Robert Skidelsky April 21, 2019
Workers worry about losing jobs to robots. Predictions vary about which jobs could vanish – those requiring high or low skills, routine or custom tasks. Experts base assessments on historical disruptions due to technology and mechanization, robot capabilities and aging populations in need of support. “But there is an important caveat to all this: left to the market, the gains from automation will...

Wall Street Journal: Russia and North Korea Ties

Anatoly Kurmanaev and Thomas Grove February 3, 2019
Despite the Russian government’s support for the UN economic sanctions against North Korea in 2017, some Russian business owners, along with ethnic Koreans living in the Far East, are speaking out in opposition to the labor and trade freeze. Anatoly Kurmanaev and Thomas Groves report from Sakhalin where ethnic Koreans maintain a strong presence. Writing for the Wall Street Journal, they explain...

Quartz: Human Translators and the Future of Work

Simone Stolzoff December 21, 2018
Automation threatens extinction of many jobs. Language translation as an occupation must contend with two trends, explains Simone Stolzoff for Quartz. “On one hand, the world is increasingly globalized,” he writes. “With technology that can spread across borders with the touch of a button, the need for people who can translate words and understand the nuance of different cultures has never been...

Japan Times: Japan Plans for Foreign Worker Influx

November 7, 2018
Japan has an aging population due to low fertility rates and strict immigration laws. The nation’s median age is 46.9, second only to Monaco. Officials are overhauling regulations as Japan prepares to welcome 40,000 more foreign workers in April 2019 and hopes to curb abuses of the health “insurance system, which caps an insured person’s monthly payment of medical bills depending on age and...

Center for Public Integrity: TPS Cancellations in the US

Susan Ferriss May 8, 2018
Since 1990, the United States could grant temporary protected status for citizens of select countries with challenging conditions including conflict or disasters that prevented safe return. The Trump administration has announced an end of this protected status for citizens of Honduras as of January 2020 and Nepal as of June 2019. The limited status was granted to Hondurans after a 1998 hurricane...

Economist: Saudi Arabia Push Out Foreigners to Make Local Jobs

May 7, 2018
Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman’s is implementing an economic restructuring plan to create more jobs for locals. “Finding jobs for young Saudis – around half of whom are unemployed – is critical for Prince Muhammad, who is the power behind the throne,” notes the Economist. Heretofore, the Saudi state has relied on cheap, foreign labor with about half of young Saudis unemployed. Saudi...

Forbes: Lifelong Learning Matters

Lynne Doughtie April 26, 2018
To compete in a global and digital economy, workers cannot afford to stop educating themselves. Technological advancements like artificial intelligence disrupt economies, and businesses struggle to recruit skilled employees. “Part of the problem is that many workers are struggling to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by technological disruption,” explains Lynne Doughtie, CEO of KPMG,...