In The News

James Brooke June 8, 2003
Anyone who was living in the Indian state of Goa in 1961 – when colonization by Portugal officially ended – or who had an ancestor living there at the time, can still obtain a Portuguese passport and thus have indirect access to much of Europe. During decolonization, the Portuguese made arrangements so that all inhabitants of “Portuguese India” would retain some of the rights of Portuguese...
Erika Kinetz June 1, 2003
The recent downturn in the US economy has had a devastating impact on the financial services, telecommunications, and media industries in New York City. In a New York Times feature article, Erika Kinetz offers stories of recent graduates of Queens College who hail from around the globe, and who, in spite of enviable grades and technical skills, remain unemployed. For these graduates, jobs are...
Katie Hafner May 30, 2003
The high technology sector in the United States is amongst the worst hit by the current recession. The recent outcry against the hiring of foreign workers – mostly from India – at comparatively lower wages exemplifies the severity of the crisis of unemployment in the high tech sector. The unemployed within the high tech sector, members of the US Congress. and certain special public interest...
Amy Waldman May 11, 2003
Due to advances in global media technologies, the public and the private sectors in the United States are increasingly subcontracting services to countries with cheap labor. Contractors for the State of New Jersey arranged for telephone operators in Bombay, India to handle calls from the state's welfare recipients. These telephone operators are paid by a US-based company, owned by an...
Supalak Ganjanakhundee May 1, 2003
Thailand has become a host nation to almost half a million legally working migrants and countless illegal immigrants. Though it continues to be in a better condition than its neighboring states, the Thai economy is still feeling the strain from too many workers and too few jobs. A cooperative solution is being negotiated to create jobs in the home countries of the illegal immigrants, which...
Vince Chong February 19, 2003
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore says that the current immigration policy, which is meant to attract foreign talent, will not change. In order to stay competitive not only in Asia, but also the world, Singapore must continue to attract talent, especially when it suffers a falling birth rate. Mr. Lee also commented that Singapore should pursue more value-added services to counteract the...
Ginger Thompson February 13, 2003
In only five years Ecuadorean roses have become one of the most popular Valentine’s Day flowers on the international market. Born out of the anti-drug war in the US, which encouraged Central American farmers to convert to flowers rather than cocoa, Ecuador's flower industry now boasts 50,000 thousand jobs and salaries above minimum wage; the success has transformed a once impoverished...