In The News

A Passage from India

Suketu Mehta July 12, 2005
Author Suketu Mehta moved to America from India as a teenager with the expectation that it would bring him and his family economic prosperity. As he writes in The New York Times, future generations of Americans may find themselves trying to travel in the opposite direction, as more US companies move jobs to India. In a sense, India's gains from outsourcing are the rewards of decades of hard...

Dubai’s Kerala Connection

Steve Raymer July 12, 2005
In recent years, Dubai has reinvented itself as a bustling multicultural capital for education and business. A driving force behind this extreme makeover is the hundreds of thousands of unskilled South Asian workers – predominantly from India – who flock to the city every year. These blue-collar workers – whom Steve Raymer calls the "invisible foot soldiers of globalization" – are an...

Unlikely Hero in Europe's Spat: The 'Polish Plumber'

Elaine Sciolino June 27, 2005
Responding to the recent flood of bad publicity about the potential loss of French jobs to Polish immigrants, Poland has come up with a marketing plan to improve its reputation in France. Hiring a model to pose as a "Polish plumber" – a figure who has come to symbolize French labor concerns – in its advertisements, the Polish Tourism Bureau is attempting to assure the French that the...

Migration is Here to Stay, So Get Used to It

Brunson McKinley June 24, 2005
Commentator Brunson McKinley poses a lofty question: How can one manage migration for the benefit of all? According to a newly released report on world migration patterns, the costs and benefits vary among countries and individuals. As such, writes McKinley, wide-ranging, hard-and-fast rules are not appropriate. Migration management policies that are based on the characteristics of specific...

In Spite of Offshoring, US Students Can Still Engineer a Career

David Wessel June 20, 2005
A new report by McKinsey & Co. concludes that the nominal demand for engineering jobs in the US will not wane in the next few years in spite of the potential of offshoring. While there are more university-trained professionals in low-wage countries, many of them, according to the report, are unfit for the jobs demanded by foreign employers. Furthermore, it concludes that by the end of the...

A Race to the Top

Thomas L. Friedman June 3, 2005
According to columnist Thomas L. Friedman, while French workers – who voted down the EU constitution – strive to preserve a 35-hour work week, Indian engineers are "ready to work a 35-hour day." In Europe, workers whose 50-year system of benefits is collapsing blame capitalism and outsourcing for their problems. However, writes Friedman, the story is not so cut-and-dry. Jobs are...

Why the Globalization Fund is a Bad Idea

Arnaldo Abruzzini June 3, 2005
The European Commission plans a Globalization Adjustment Fund, hoping that money and a united front can prepare displaced workers for new and better jobs. But this author suggests that the fund sends the wrong signal, that globalization represents more danger than opportunity. By subsidizing jobs, the fund could offer short-term palliatives but not long-term economic reforms sorely needed in many...