In The News

India's Lower Castes Seek Social Progress in Global Job Market

Emily Wax September 5, 2007
For 3000 years, India operated with a caste system; from birth, Indians understood their status and role in society. Prohibited by law, the caste system remains a source for discrimination in India. By law, the public sector and public universities set aside a percentage of jobs for people born into the lowest castes, and activists encourage similar affirmative-action programs within the private...

Skilled Immigrants? No Thanks

Michael Sauga September 3, 2007
Most developed nations have loosened immigration policies in the competition for skilled labor. But not in Germany. Employers want skilled workers, but the government adds obstacles to hiring immigrants, regardless of education or skill, even as thousands of highly trained Germans leave for jobs abroad. “Ironically, just as the German economy embarks on its strongest boom in years, the country...

The Tale of Globalization’s Exiles

Richard Lapper August 30, 2007
Media and government reports focus on hedge funds and other mechanisms of finance that move money around the globe. But individuals also shift funds, including small amounts sent in envelopes or by wire, from immigrant workers in wealthy nations to poor relatives back home. For some poor nations, the total of such remittances outweigh foreign aid or revenues earned from leading agricultural...

Outsourcing: External Affairs

August 26, 2007
Outsourcing can reduce costs, result in some silly mistakes because of misunderstandings over culture or language, and terrify workers in nations where the wage bar is set high. Yet the outsourcing industry has matured, argues this article from the Economist. Signs of maturation include growth slowing to single-digit levels, providers competing over quality and vendors referring to themselves as...

Like Wages for Chocolate

Humphrey Hawksley August 21, 2007
Exploited by capitalists of the West, some farmers of Africa may eventually be tempted by the Chinese communist model or even worse, radical Islam as their ideology, says Humphrey Hawksley, a BBC correspondent and the author of “The History Book,” as he presents a case study of cocoa production in African countries. With stagnant prices of cocoa in international commodity markets, the real...

Migrants Agree: It's Harder to Get Jobs

Pablo Bachelet August 15, 2007
Migrants report that finding work in the US has become more challenging, according to a recent study conducted by Inter-American Development Bank and the Bendixen polling firm. Migrants often feel as though they live in a “sense of siege” and many contemplate returning to their native countries. In the US, they face job, lending and housing discrimination and often do not make enough money to...

Surge in Immigration Laws Around US

Julia Preston August 10, 2007
With the failure of a US immigration bill, most analysts assumed immigration reform was dead until after the next presidential election. But states have taken the matter into their own hands, considering more than 1000 pieces of legislation on immigration, with an unprecedented number of laws passed by 41 state legislatures, along with more from some cities and towns. Varying laws – most hostile...