The Impact of Globalization on Work and Employment - Essay Example

Research and critically discuss the impact of globalization on work and employment Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Main body 3 Criticism of globalization on work and employment 6 Conclusion 8 References 9 Introduction The impact or the affect of globalization on the work or employment can be discussed or emphasized as globalization as the process through which the market establishes the relationship worldwide and it helps in the reduction of transaction and the transportation cost and the process of globalization is related to the increasing in employment opportunities and also increase in the differentiation in the workforce. Globalization has provided many facilities and benefits to the developing countries of the world such as it has provided many employment opportunities to Nigeria. Globalization has resulted in the enhancement of the earnings and the employment opportunities in the developing countries due to the inflow of the foreign investment and also increasing the value of the export products of the developing countries. Globalization influences the earning opportunities of the countries but along with that it also increases the capacity or the ability of the rich countries of the world to implement their policies in the poor countries of the world. Globalization has also influenced the increase in the competition both at national and international level which has resulted in the reduction of cost and increase in the productivity. The topic mainly emphasizes on the pros and the cons of the impact of globalization in work and employment. Main body One of the important aspects of globalization is off shoring. A complex reality will get revealed if an analysis of the global effects is considered. Critics of globalization are of the opinion that it robbed jobs from the workers particularly after the post world war period. Most countries have witnessed job losses mainly because the domestic products failed to compete with the imported goods. The concept of international trade got introduced and it rubbed off the domestic products which failed to compete with the goods imported from the developed nations. (Standing, 1999).So the cons of globalization were particularly felt in the emerging countries. However it is difficult to measure the amount of job loss since the link between international trade and competition is not clear cut. The period of 1990s witnessed a flood of clothing from China which was sold at an unbeatable price around the globe. The effects were fatal since the textile industry felt a shock and workers got retrenched from textile industries. Companies involved or engaged in the textile industry were forced to downsize (Bradley, Erickson, Stephenson, and Williams, 2000). In the 33 year period starting from 1970 to 2003 a drop in workforce was 60% in G7 countries. This carnage forced the companies to refocus on the strings of textile technology as well as new designs. Some similar trends were seen on the industries of electronics and specialized skills and technology. It must be argued just opposite trends were observed on the fields of chemicals, agribusiness. Critics argue that jobs losses are not the resultant of globalization. In Europe, less than 5% of the job losses occurred can be considered as the reason of outsourcing the activity to a country were the same product can be produced at lesser cost while in France off shoring led to a job loss of 13500 in the period of 1995 to 2001 which is comparatively low considering the total job loss in the country (Doherty, 2009). A survey showed that 75% of job loss in the European nations was due to restructuring processes or because of corporate strategic re-orientation. The share of job loss in the United States was also low since in the year 2001 the total job loss due to off shoring was 13000 which is less than 1% of the total job loss in the country (Beerepoot and Hendriks, 2013). Proponents of globalization have opined that globalization can be treated as the factor that leads to job creation. They put forward the example of Germany where 3 million jobs were created in the period of 1995 to 2003. More than 2.5 million jobs got created in the fields of hotels and restaurants as well as in health care services. They opined that these new professions have the capability to generate more value than the labour intensive activities. The created wealth can be diverted towards new activities which is turn will act as the catalyst in creating more new jobs. In developing countries and most importantly in the emerging nations globalization is seen as the concept that leads to job creation although it is not proper to comment on the actual figure yet it has been universally accepted that globalization has led the way towards more job creation that it has actually destroyed (Oikelome and Healy, 2007). Globalization has both positively as well as negatively impacted and affected the work or the employment. The positive impact of globalization on employment can be explained as the globalization has lead to the increase in the productivity by facilitating the countries to produce the goods and services in which the countries gain competitive advantage. Globalization assist or facilitates the countries in maintaining competitive advantage and maintaining cheap imports that will help in controlling the rise in price and the rate of inflation as a result it will help in the economic growth and development which in turn will increase the employment opportunities. It facilitates an open economy which encourages innovation and implementation of new ideas in the countries that is adopted from the outside countries (Taylor and Bain, 2005). The unfettered flow of the capital will provide an opportunity to the developed countries of the world to access to the foreign direct investment and maintain a low interest level. Globalization has lead to the increase in the demand for the skilled as well as the unskilled workers in the developed countries of the world. Globalization has resulted in the increase in the flow of the international trade and international investment that will stimulate the economic growth of the economy and it will result in increase in the employment opportunities and also improving the standard of living of the people. Globalization has promoted liberalization which has resulted in the increase in the employment opportunities in the agricultural sectors. There has been a radical increase in the employment opportunities in the developing countries from the year 1988 to 2000; the rate of employment has increased from 21% to 39% due to the impact of globalization. Globalization has resulted in the increase in the integration among the various countries of the world which in turn has facilitated the development of technology and the flow of new ideas and innovation in the countries and has lead to the increase in the productivity which in turn has benefitted the companies to adopt to the technologies thus facilitating the increase in the employment opportunities in the economy (Bigsten and Durevall., 2003). Globalization has resulted in the creation of more job or employment opportunities in the tech savvy industries as it facilitated the generation or the creation of new professions in the service industry sectors which has lead to the increase in the employment opportunities. Globalization has also benefitted Germany as it has created more than 3 million job opportunities within the period of 1995 to 2003. Globalization has influenced and promoted foreign direct investment which in turn has increased the employment opportunities among the local firms. The low wages that is paid to the employees of the OECD countries provide concession or benefit and provides more value as a result of low wages that is provided to the employees (Tatli, and Ozbilgin, 2012). Criticism of globalization on work and employment The cons or the limitations of the impact of globalization on the work and the employment can be explained as globalization has reduced the unemployment opportunities can be explained with the help of the example of Silicon valley which reveals that globalization has lead to the economic downturn since the year 2001 as the rate of employment has been decreased by 20%. And the foreign direct investment that is supported or introduced due to the globalization has resulted in the loss of employment opportunities (Bolton and Boyd, 2003). Globalization has resulted in the creation of job or employment opportunities in some countries and less in some other countries where the industries and the firms that has been put out by global competition. The workers mainly face the problem in the shortage or reduction in the demand of their wages from their respective employers which creates an obstacle or the barrier in the export of jobs. Globalization has resulted in the loss of employment or the job opportunities in US as the employees of United States can lose their respective comparative advantage when the companies decide to develop or create advance factories in the low wage countries (Stiglitz, 2002). Globalization is creating a threat in the economy as the increase in the white collar jobs and services have resulted in the increase in the vulnerable operation to move offshore. Globalization has resulted in the situation of job insecurity in the OECD countries since the workers and the union face the sense of job insecurity where the OECD firms or the companies experiences less bargaining power exerting a downward force on the quality of employment(Soros, 2002). Globalization has resulted in the increase in the inequality in the wages since the wages of the unskilled workers have been reduced and the wages or the salaries of the skilled and the educated employees have increased. The inequality in the wages has been increased since the past decade due to the impact of Globalization. Off shoring is the direct cause that has lead to the decrease in the employment opportunities (Ravenga, 2001). Therefore the above discussion on the impact of globalisation on work and employment and its pros and cons can be explained as in some sectors globalisation has worsened the quality of the job and in some other sectors it have been able to develop many quality jobs. Globalisation has also facilitated the countries in gaining competitive advantage and therefore globalization has resulted in increasing the competitiveness of the products and services which has resulted in employing many trained employees in the organization thus globalization ha also facilitated in the increase in employment opportunities. Conclusion By assessing various parameters for analyzing the impact of Globalization on work and employment it can be concluded that globalization leads to the generation of more employment opportunities as compared to the destruction or reduction in their job or the employment opportunities. But the adverse affect of the globalization cannot be neglected because globalization has resulted in the loss of employment or the job opportunities due to the off shoring of the companies and the loss of competitiveness. The globalization in order to be successful requires that the developing countries of the world will liberalize the movement of short term capital in order to avoid the macroeconomic instability. Globalization has lead to the scenario of recession in the economy. Globalization is not able to ignore the losers of globalization for those who have work for the sectors that has weakened the international competition. The Economic crisis has lead to the increase in the unemployment rates. The crisis has forced the government to adopt various steps or measures for handling the unemployment. The long term steps and measures that have been adopted have been able to reduce the inequalities that exist in the economy and increasing the level of employment. Therefore the government have actively participated in providing employment to the people and attempting to return the people back to workplace. Globalization has lead to the creation or the development of the new job or the employment opportunities in the emerging and the developing countries of the world. Despite of the limitations of the globalizations it provides value on the employment opportunities. Therefore it can be concluded that Globalization has positive impact on work and employment. References Beerepoot, N., & Hendriks, M., 2013. Employability of offshore service sector workers in the Philippines: opportunities for upward labour mobility or dead-end jobs?. Work, Employment & Society, 27(1). pp: 823-841. Bigsten, A., and Durevall, D., 2003. Globalization and Policy Effects in Africa. World Economy.6(8), pp:119–36. Bolton, S.C. and Boyd, C., 2003. Trolley dolly or skilled emotion manager? Moving on from Hochschilds Managed Heart. Work Employment Society, 17(1). pp: 289-308. Bradley, H., Erickson, M., Stephenson, C., and Williams, S., 2000. The Myth of Globalization in Myths at Work. Oxford: Blackwell. Doherty, M., 2009. When the working day is through: the end of work as identity? Work, Employment and Society. 1(1). pp. 42-44. Oikelome, F. & Healy, G., 2007. Second-class doctors? The impact of a professional career structure on the employment conditions of overseas- and UK-qualified doctors. Human Resource Management Journal, 17(1). pp: 134-154 Ravenga, A., 2001. Employment and wage effects of trade liberalization: the case of Mexican Manufacturing, Journal of Labour Economics 15 (3). Soros, G., 2002. George Soros on globalization. New York: Public Affairs. Standing, G., 1999.Global Feminization Through Flexible Labor: A Theme Revisited. World Development, 27(1). pp: 583-602 Stiglitz, J., 2002. Globalization and its discontent. New York: Norton. Tatli, A., & Ozbilgin, M., 2012. Surprising intersectional ties of inequality and privilege: the case of the arts and cultural sector. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 31(1). pp: 249-265. Taylor, P. & Bain, P., 2005. India Calling to the Far Away Towns: the Call Centre Labor Process and Globalisation. Work, Employment and Society. 19 (2), pp 261-282. Read More