Ed,
At 08:43 29/12/2010 -0500, you wrote:
And what would one expect in a globalized world in which moving goods from
one part of the globe to another presents no problem, in which
communications instantaneous and where labour costs are much lower abroad
than at home?
Yes. Few people realize just how cheaply goods can be moved around globally
when containerized. Because of this innovation freight costs have come down
several-fold in the last 20/30 years and are much less significant now in
the final cost price of a product. This means that the relative labour cost
differentials (as between China and the West) are even more important now
than they were then.
The global world of commerce and production is becoming increasingly
unified. To the extent that many CEOs etc. still care about labour, it
is finding low cost labour abroad that gets their attention not high cost
labour at home. High-caliber labour at home can come up with some
marvelous new electronic gadgetry that everybody wants, but don't expect
the gadgets to be produced at home.
But it's no use having "marvellous new electronic gadgetry" if it can be
assembled with relatively unskilled labour. If the CEOs didn't source it
abroad, then other foreign companies would only reverse-engineer the
product and then start making it themselves.
A split is occurring in an economy like the US. The boss class
increasingly thinks globally while the underclass continues to think
locally. Thank God that Canada remains a hewer of wood and drawer of
water. Jobs in commodity production can't easily be moved abroad.
But, unfortunately, even though you might retain high employment as hewers
of wood and drawers of water, Canadians would be increasingly forced into a
lower standard of living. I doubt whether this would be politically
acceptable! A lot of your most talented people would start going abroad for
better-paid jobs.
Keith
Ed
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:[email protected]>Keith Hudson
To: <mailto:[email protected]>RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME
DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION ; <mailto:[email protected]>Michael Gurstein
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2010 3:48 AM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] FW: [SPAM] Where Are The Jobs? For Many
Companies, Overseas
The real point is this. Where are the new consumer products that America
could be making in order to sell to the Chinese and others and balance up
their imports?
But nor are European firms inventing and making these either. The truth
is that the industrial-consumer revolution has reached the end of its
run. Most of advanced country populations are as locked into their
urbanized way of life and their existing stock of goods) as ever peasants
were locked into their feudal way of life. Average wages have been
declining for the last 30 years and unless someone invents something more
explosive than the iPad -- and several more -- then the drift will continue.
Keith
At 20:21 28/12/2010 -0800, Michael Gurstein wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: Portside Moderator [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 7:16 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [SPAM] Where Are The Jobs? For Many Companies, Overseas
Where Are The Jobs? For Many Companies, Overseas
Associated Press
December 28, 2010
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=132396866
Corporate profits are up. Stock prices are up. So why isn't anyone hiring?
Actually, many American companies are - just maybe not in
your town. They're hiring overseas, where sales are surging
and the pipeline of orders is fat.
More than half of the 15,000 people that Caterpillar Inc. has hired this
year were outside the U.S. UPS is also hiring at a faster clip overseas. For
both companies, sales in international markets are growing at least twice as
fast as domestically.
The trend helps explain why unemployment remains high in the United States,
edging up to 9.8 percent last month, even though companies are performing
well: All but 4 percent of the top 500 U.S. corporations reported profits
this year, and the stock market is close to its highest point since the 2008
financial meltdown.
But the jobs are going elsewhere. The Economic Policy Institute, a
Washington think tank, says American companies have created 1.4 million jobs
overseas this year, compared with less than 1 million in the U.S. The
additional 1.4 million jobs would have lowered the U.S. unemployment rate to
8.9 percent, says Robert Scott, the institute's senior international
economist.
"There's a huge difference between what is good for American companies
versus what is good for the American economy," says Scott.
To read more, go to
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=132396866
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