In The News

Rigid Unions Help Paralyze Economy

Heike Göbel April 9, 2004
Last week, workers in several European countries took to the streets demanding socially just reforms and warning against any potential government cutbacks. On the surface, these protests would suggest that Europe's unions have many shared interests. Not so, says this op-ed in Germany's F.A.Z. Weekly. In reality, unions' criticism always focuses on national concerns. German...

Wait for US Residency Soars Over 18 Month Span

Nina Bernstein April 6, 2004
The time to approve green cards and formal travel documents has quadrupled in the US as a result of September 11. The main reason: thousands of personnel who formerly processed applications are now being used for security checks. As a result, a document that once took two months to process now takes seven. While the Bush administration has promised to cut down the wait time, results have been few...

Innovative India

April 5, 2004
As the American elections draw near, the Economist takes a refreshing look at the outsourcing debate. Examining advances made in research and development (R&D) in India’s high-tech centers such as Bangalore, the article reports that many Indian IT professionals are rightly vexed about the portrayal of their country as merely “a source of cheap labor and a telecommunications link.” Although...

Big Pay Luring Military's Elite to Private Jobs

Eric Schmitt March 30, 2004
Fears that US military Special Operations members will depart in droves for higher paying civilian security jobs have come to light. While the departures are minimal at this stage, the possibility that their pace will accelerate has caused Gen. Bryan D. Brown, head of Special Operations Command, to meet with senior Special Op's members to discuss ways to stem the exodus. To train a Green...

Letting Foreign Workers Past the Gate

March 29, 2004
If Japan is to play a leading role in the economic development of Asia – one of the world’s fastest growing regions – it must embrace globalization, which includes opening its borders to foreign labor. As this editorial in The Japan Times points out, foreigners are becoming increasingly vital to the Japanese labor force. Immigrants work in factories, hospitals, fish ports, and farms. Yet as...

A Tale of Two Cities

Kerry A. Dolan March 29, 2004
Forbes magazine compares the stories of a dozen Americans laid off in Silicon Valley because of offshoring to those of their Indian counterparts who gained some of those jobs in Bangalore, India's offshoring hotspot. Before losing their jobs, American workers in the technology industry were going about their usual business –taking home plump checks, closing on a condo, and generally enjoying...

In Florida Groves, Cheap Labor Means Machines

Eduardo Porter March 22, 2004
In Florida citrus groves, where most of the crop is still harvested by hand, machines are still a rare sight. As technological improvements take hold, however, Florida growers are seeing less need for the Latin American migrants who currently do much of the work. Facing increasingly fierce foreign competition, US growers view cost saving machines like canopy shakers as the best way to stay...