In The News

Commerce Department Report on Offshore Outsourcing Finally Sees the Light of Day

Richard McCormack August 4, 2006
The US Commerce Department released its 336-page report on offshore outsourcing of labor in the information-technology job sector, after holding on to the analysis for two years. The report provides a grim projection for future employment prospects of IT workers in the US. Rising pressure for low costs from customers, consultants and financial markets has led to outsourcing of high-level...

From East to West

Rana Rosen July 24, 2006
As the nation debates the value of immigration, the US Senate has eased restrictions for nurses from India. Nurses from India used to travel to the Middle East, with less stringent test requirements, to earn high wages, but encountered restrictions and segregation. With countries such as Australia, Ireland and the UK setting higher standards for foreign nurses, some in the nursing profession...

The Immigration Equation

Roger Lowenstein July 14, 2006
Many US opponents to immigration base their opinions on worries that immigrants pose competition for struggling unskilled workers already earning low wages. Economist George Borjas, a native-born Cuban who immigrated to the US in 1962, has compiled empirical evidence showing that the influx of unskilled, undocumented workers into the US does threaten working-class Americans, particularly those...

Congress May Yet Move on Immigration

Gail Russell Chaddock June 28, 2006
US legislators are polarized over immigration reform, but they also recognize that voters on both sides – those who welcome hardworking illegal immigrants who otherwise don’t break laws versus those who want to deport all illegals – are passionate about the issue. Voters question the ability of Congress to act on an obvious and glaring problem, with more than 12 million illegal aliens in the US....

US Wages Face Glut of Pressures

David Wessel June 26, 2006
Conventional economics suggests that the retirement of the baby boomers in the US will reverse the decline of wages and job benefits throughout the US. But the emergence of China, India and the former Soviet bloc as modern capitalist economies could prolong the agony, suggests journalist David Wessel, particularly if the US is unprepared. Overseas competition will continue to lower wages of US...

Managing Globalization: Economies Have a Stake in Where Companies Find Employees

Daniel Altman June 26, 2006
A growing interconnectedness of the global economy means companies will find skilled workers one way or another. The motives for companies to turn to outsourcing or the recruitment of immigrant labor are often similar: a domestic skills shortage, jobs that local workers will not take or the comparatively cheap cost of foreign labor. The forces driving companies’ choices to outsource or recruit...

Migrants, Bound for Spain, Set off a Boom

Meg Bortin June 21, 2006
Many West Africans pool funds to finance their own illegal immigration to the Spanish Canary Islands by boat. Fish was the lead export for Senegal in 2003, but the bountiful oceans of Western Africa have long been decimated by massive foreign fishing trawlers that took advantage of the coast’s once abundant fish supply. So the one-time fishermen of Senegal have found another way to generate...