In The News

Joseph Chamie August 5, 2003
All people have the right to leave their country, writes Joseph Chamie, Director of the United Nations Population Division, but they do not have the right to enter another without permission. As population growth soars in the developing world, this apparent contradiction is creating a dilemma for developed countries, which are being inundated with illegal migrants. According to Chamie, the...
Kim Sung-mi July 31, 2003
Business groups in South Korea have complained that their current labor laws are grossly obsolete, especially in a competitive international environment. The laws stipulate that employers who "illegally" lay off workers would face criminal charges including prison sentences of up to five years. An expert committee charged with revamping the current laws wishes to discontinue the use of...
Anna Teo July 23, 2003
As companies expand their operations overseas, managing their workforce can become a much more complicated task. A poll of 240 Singaporean professionals assigned abroad found the majority frustrated with their companies’ repatriation process. Nonetheless, most of those polled were happy to go abroad, because they believe that managerial development and international experience gained overseas...
Steven Greenhouse July 22, 2003
The conventional wisdom on globalization in the US has held that unskilled jobs will gradually shift overseas, leaving American workers free to perform higher-paid, white-collar jobs. But now that IBM is considering moving millions of white-collar jobs to countries like India and China, politicians and technology workers are crying foul. Corporations like IBM argue that moving service jobs...
Steven Greenhouse July 20, 2003
Foreign students love spending time in American resort towns, but they don't always come as tourists. Over the summer months, when small vacation spots like Cape Cod, Montauk, or Wisconsin Dells flood with visitors, university students from Eastern Europe and elsewhere take jobs unfilled, or undesired, by their American counterparts. Many work 80-hour weeks at minimum wage, cleaning...
Pravit Rojanaphruk July 16, 2003
Writing in Thailand’s major newspaper the author urges his fellow citizens not to view Burmese refugees as unwelcome invaders. Though historical enmity, national security, and the "ungratefulness" of Burmese people are regularly cited whenever there is a crackdown against student protestors or migrants, Thai people should not be blinded by mistrust. The reality is that, regardless of...
Mary Jordan July 15, 2003
In Mexico, there are too many workers and too few jobs. The country has failed to recover from the financial crisis of the 1990s that sent the peso and the average standard of living plummeting. And, while the number of unskilled laborers remains high – indeed higher than ever before as women increasingly enter the workforce – lower wages in countries like Indonesia and Guatemala have lured...