In The News

US Court System is Big Opening for Immigrants

Jesse Bogan October 14, 2003
Non-Mexican undocumented immigrants crossing the southern US border have a pretty easy out if they're apprehended by immigration authorities. By claiming to be from Honduras, Guatemala, or somewhere else, undocumented migrants from Central and South America are processed through the court system, not immediately turned back at the US-Mexico border. Short on money and space to house them,...

As It Tries to Cut Costs, Wall Street Looks to India

Saritha Rai October 8, 2003
In the latest development of the trend towards outsourcing US jobs to India, some Wall Street financial houses are looking to hire India-based researchers. J. P. Morgan, Lehman Bros., and Morgan Stanley are among the latest US investment firms to seek cheaper, well-educated labor in India. Merrill Lynch already has a technology center in the country, and Goldman Sachs has similar plans to...

A Missing Statistic: U.S. Jobs That Went Overseas

Louis Uchitelle October 5, 2003
As US politicians blame each other for the country's high unemployment rate, a key question remains unanswered: how much of the recent job loss can be blamed on cheap overseas labor? Although estimates vary, most economists agree that of the 2.81 million jobs lost since the US economic slump began, at least fifteen percent have gone overseas. American companies can save as much as fifty...

Chinese Girls’ Toil Brings Pain, Not Riches

Joseph Kahn October 2, 2003
China’s shift to capitalism has brought huge rewards to many Chinese, but for 150 million unemployed peasants, poverty is still a harsh reality. Job prospects are limited, and a lucky few find jobs with multinational corporations, which offer good pay and high labor standards. In China’s export sector, however, sweatshops and low pay are much more common. Lured by promises of good pay, two...

Can Rich Countries Stem the Outflow of Jobs?

Eddie Lee September 23, 2003
Last month, the United States lost 93,000 jobs, many of them in the service sector. This commentary in Singapore's Straits Times attributes this job loss to outsourcing by developed world companies. In an effort to cut costs, many companies are hiring workers in developing countries since they are willing to work for far less than their counterparts in the US and Singapore. As the...

Indian Techies Out, Teachers In

Siddhharth Srivastava September 18, 2003
American tech workers have been claiming that Indian immigrants are stealing their jobs ever since the tech bubble of the 1990s burst. Amidst this controversy, the fact that Indians are increasingly filling American teaching positions has widely gone unnoticed. With a shortage of instructors to the tune of over 700,000, however, this influx of professional labor is far more welcome. Indeed,...

As China Gallops, Mexico Sees Factory Jobs Slip Away

Juan Forero September 3, 2003
The search for profit drives companies to look for the lowest production costs possible, and that search is taking more and more American companies from factories in Mexico to factories in China. America's southern neighbor received a boom in employment after the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s, but China's rise as a supplier of cheap labor is now...