In The News

Outsourcing Is Climbing Skills Ladder

Steve Lohr February 20, 2006
The Bush administration announced an initiative to increase spending on science education and research – to encourage more US students to take up the generally scorning the field. But the plan may be too late. Multinational companies – who always shop around for the best prices and the best talent – plan to move research and development jobs overseas, to countries with the fastest growing...

How to Ease the Pain of Globalization

Catherine L. Mann February 17, 2006
Frequent news articles detail the offshoring of information technology (IT) jobs, sounding alarms for all US workers. Catherine Mann suggests that such alarm may be unwarranted and points out steps to maximize the benefits of globalization. Research indicates that the globalization of IT actually promotes productivity, creates new jobs, reduces inflation and enhances innovation, both in the US...

NAFTA and Nativism

Harold Meyerson February 10, 2006
Shortly before the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into effect in 1994, then US President Bill Clinton optimistically predicted, as more Mexicans gained the ability to support themselves at home, a gradual decline in illegal immigration. Contrary to Clinton’s promise, however, the US has seen a four-fold increase in undocumented Mexican workers in the last decade. Putting...

Unpopular Globalization: Why So Many Are Opposed

David Dapice February 2, 2006
The world economy has done well in recent years, yet workers in rich nations remain anxious about how globalization will affect future jobs, wages and benefits. In the US, Ford and General Motors have slashed jobs and closed plants. Plentiful skilled labor in emerging countries raises fears about depressed wages worldwide. More importantly, specific policies and conditions in Europe and the US...

Migration: Illegal But Integral to Economy

Sanjay Suri January 25, 2006
Europeans often blame illegal immigrants for a number of social ills, including high rates of crime and unemployment. Yet “people with irregular status” are the invisible bedrock for many social institutions in the developed world, suggests this article in Terraviva Europe. Without the work of illegal immigrants from Africa, Asia and parts of Eastern Europe in fundamental sectors like healthcare...

Carpenters’ Union Courts Immigrants to Increase Clout

Miriam Jordan December 16, 2005
The union movement in construction has suffered steady eroding membership over recent decades as employers confront pressure from foreign competition. As a result, the industry turns to nonunion workers to reduce costs. In Denver, Colorado, illegal immigrants are a prime source for nonunion construction labor. Now union leaders reach out to illegal immigrants, promising higher pay and benefits....

Corporate Europe Ignores Diversity at its Peril

Marta Dassu November 30, 2005
The logic of obtaining the best possible candidates for a position seems to fall flat in the European corporate world, according to a recent study by European researchers. At the top of the business world, talent and qualifications may take a back seat to nationalistic hiring and promotion policies. In a survey of 450 different companies in the EU’s five biggest economies, the researchers found...