Jobs and Incomes in a Globalizing World

by Ghose, Ajit Kumar

• ISBN13: 9789221127178
• ISBN10: 9221127176
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-08-01
• Publisher: Intl Labour Organisation

Summary

The consequences of globalizations, particularly for employment, wages, and incomes, arouse widespread concern. This book investigates the basis for these anxieties by analysing the effects of the growing two-way trade in manufactures between North and South -- the core of globalization. Its conclusions set fresh parameters for the globalization debate.Presenting results of new research, the author shows that, contrary to popular perceptions, global income inequality is actually declining, South-North migration is falling, and job opportunities and wages are rising in a significant number of developing countries. Moreover, the author finds no evidence of falling labour standards in integrating economies, nor that globalization can be blamed for the labour market disadvantages of low-skilled labour in industrialized countries.While showing many of the public concerns about globalization to be unfounded, the analysis exposes other serious problems that until now have received scant attention, such as increasing marginalization of the poorest countries heavily dependent on exports of primary commodities, a high and growing level of brain drain from poor to rich countries, the potentially high costs for developing countries of pursuing integration as an objective in itself, and the failure of globalization to stimulate global economic growth.This important book points to difficult challenges that the international community must meet if the potential benefits of globalization are to be realized and all nations and people are to share in them.

Author Biography

Ajit K. Ghose is Senior Economist in the Employment Strategy Department of the ILO.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
Introduction	1	(4)
Globalization: Characteristics, issues and concerns	5	(18)
What is globalization?	5	(3)
Globalization: An empirical sketch	8	(8)
Globalization: Then and now	16	(1)
Globalization: Issues and concerns	17	(6)
Appendix 2.1 List of countries	21	(2)
Trade and global income inequality	23	(18)
Introduction	23	(1)
Global income inequality, 1981--97	24	(7)
The preliminaries	24	(2)
Inter-country inequality, 1981--97	26	(3)
International inequality, 1981--97	29	(2)
Trade liberalization and global income inequality	31	(6)
Conclusions	37	(4)
Appendix 3.1 List of countries	38	(1)
Appendix 3.2 Percentage distribution of population by the inequality trend in countries of residence	39	(2)
Trade, jobs and wages	41	(38)
Introduction	41	(2)
What does economic theory tell us?	43	(4)
The basic analytical framework	43	(2)
A necessary dose of realism	45	(2)
The empirical evidence	47	(26)
Trade and the pattern of specialization	47	(4)
Employment and wages in industrialized countries	51	(9)
Employment and wages in developing countries	60	(13)
A summing up	73	(6)
Appendix 4.1 Classification of manufacturing industries	77	(1)
Appendix 4.2 Ratio of manufacturing employment to total civilian employment, average annual growth rate (%), various years	78	(1)
Appendix 4.3 Trade performance, selected ME countries, various years	78	(1)
Trade and international migration	79	(16)
Introduction	79	(1)
Trade and international migration: Insights from economic theory	80	(3)
International migration in the 1990s: The evidence	83	(8)
The trends	83	(4)
The phenomenon of brain drain	87	(4)
International migration, then and now	91	(1)
Conclusions	92	(3)
Appendix 5.1 Cumulative effects of emigration on population and labour force in European countries, 1870--1910	94	(1)
Trade and labour standards	95	(14)
Introduction	95	(1)
Trade and labour standards: Theory and evidence	96	(7)
Some preliminaries	96	(1)
An analytical perspective	97	(3)
``Unfair trade'' and ``social dumping''	100	(2)
``Race to the bottom''	102	(1)
Improving labour standards in a developing economy	103	(4)
Concluding remarks	107	(2)
Conclusions	109	(8)
References	117	(6)
Index	123