In The News

Globalization and Politics

Nayan Chanda September 17, 2008
Faced with a battered American economy and a five-year high unemployment rate, US presidential candidates tend to slip into anti-trade mode. Piling blame on foreigners is convenient and attracts votes. But the US has misidentified the source of its economic woes, suggests Nayan Chanda in his column for Businessworld. Outsourcing is just one side of the coin of globalization; on the flip side,...

Township for Foreign Workers Could House Up to 20,000 Under One Roof

Imelda Saad September 12, 2008
Singapore banks on its stable, multicultural society to attract investors and businesses. Investment in infrastructure construction has required foreign workers who bring new cultures and habits, some considered unacceptable by local Singaporeans. Hence, dormitory operators have proposed building huge “townships” for up to 20,000 foreign workers in one location, a concept that flourishes...

China's Outsourcing Appeal Dimming

Ariana Eunjung Cha September 11, 2008
US manufacturers, who watch budgets and make products for consumers outside China, are less eager to outsource manufacturing operations work. “Soaring energy costs, the falling dollar and inflation are cutting into what U.S. manufacturers call the ‘China price’ – the 40 to 50 percent cost advantage once offered by Chinese producers,” reports Ariana Eunjung Cha for the Washington Post. Cha...

Outsourcing at Crux of Boeing Strike

J. Lynn Lunsford September 9, 2008
Job security used to mean workers didn’t have to worry much about competition. But a strike at Boeing has redefined the notion of job security, with striking workers pleading for the chance to compete for company projects. The aerospace industry has adopted outsourcing supply methods of the automobile industry, and suppliers around the globe increasingly contribute more to Boeing products. “In...

High-Tech Ties Bridge Mideast Divide

Robert W. Gee September 8, 2008
With any lull in the violence, Palestinian and Israeli representatives reach out to each other for business and trade opportunities. One example is Israeli high-tech executive, Jonathan Levy, president and general manager of Nuvoton, who did not hesitate in outsourcing some software engineering work to seven recent graduates from West Bank universities. More than 2000 Palestinian students...

The Voice of Labor

July 23, 2008
Organized labor looks to be well-organized for politics in advance of November’s US presidential election. Backed by vast war chests and armies of volunteers, unions address workers’ concerns over soaring prices at home and growing competition overseas. Given labor’s strength in key Midwestern swing states and amongst blue-collar whites in general, these efforts to cast the election as a...

Guidelines Call for Chinese Pay to Rise With Inflation

Kang Yi July 11, 2008
Chinese workers could soon receive a pay raise. To combat rising prices for food, energy and other basic goods, the government mulls proposals to address income inequality. Guidelines for salary reform mostly target private companies, report a team of authors for the Economic Observer Online, "as most of the low pay and low growth rate in salaries occurred in the private sector, especially...