Movement of labor
Although they are moving less than they used to, Americans move from one location to another more than almost any other nationality (barring New Zealanders, at 26 percent) in the world. A 2013 survey reports that 24 percent of the American people report having moved within the last five years for jobs, education, or other reasons (Plumer, 2013, par. 2).
What are some other reasons workers or future workers move within or away from their home countries? A World Health Organization fact sheet lists some reasons health workers move: they "migrate to high-income countries for greater income, job satisfaction, career opportunities and management quality" (Migration, 2010, par. 2). Workers in other sectors move for the same reasons.
Workers also move to areas of high demand. Until the recent local downturn, the North Dakota oil boom turned out more than 10 percent of the USA's daily oil production. When job seekers flooded in, small towns worked overtime to accommodate them. Part of this new demand came about due to new drilling techniques, including the controversial method of hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") (Harder, 2013, pars. 1-3). The photo-essay at the following link shows how new technologies and economic growth can transform a region, the lives of residents, and the lives of people who move there in order to find new opportunities.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/08/08/business/photos-north-dakota-oil-boom
Migration has always been a fact of human life and in certain eras and locations, but today's period of globalization has affected almost every country in the world, whether as a country of origin, transit, or destination. In 2005, the number of immigrants crossing borders (191 million) exceeded the population of Brazil, the world's number five country in population. Most migrated for economic reasons, not for political or other reasons (Women, n.d., par. 2).
Migrants can enrich their home countries through remittances (money sent back to the country of origin) or by returning with savings, new skills, and business and social ties to the destination country. They are also a factor in new markets, technology transfer, and economic and political developments in the countries with which they have contact (Women, par. 3). Many of today's job seekers must compete with other job seekers around the world.
The Americas Society/Council of Americas has listed five reasons the United States needs immigrants: many immigrants bring important skills; the ‘global competition to attract and retain human capital'; the potential for an aging population to impede growth; the international linkages immigrants bring, opening new trade and business opportunities; and the fact that some employers are leaving "mission-critical" jobs unfilled. In regard to the last-stated reason, some critics have attributed unfilled jobs to unrealistically low wages offered by employers, rather than a domestic skills gap. Read more about the potential benefits economic immigrants bring to a host country at the link below.
http://www.as-coa.org/articles/get-facts-five-reasons-why-us-labor-force-needs-immigrants
What other impacts do globalization and interdependence have on the individual level? For some, globalization has had important benefits for people in developing countries: "The impressive growth in Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and later in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, reflected and was reinforced by equally impressive changes in people's behavior and lives: unprecedented gains in small farmers' productivity, high demand for schooling (including schooling for girls)..." (Birdsall, 2007, par. 2). In these cases, globalization has lessened the ‘push' factors that drive people to leave their home countries and search for better labor conditions.
But in other parts of the world globalization has increased inequality and driven wages down. In its report, "Globalisation, Jobs, and Wages," the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development notes that "workers may have had to make concessions on wages or working conditions to remain employed. One indication this may have happened is that the wage share of national income has declined since 1980 in most OECD countries" (OECD, 2007, par. 15). Click the following link for a list of OECD member countries:
http://www.oecd.org/general/listofoecdmembercountries-ratificationoftheconventionontheoecd.htm.
For an overview of globalization's pros and cons in terms of labor, click the following link.
