Archives for Globalization

If you lose your job as a result of globalization, House Democrats want to extend employment benefits to you to ease your transition. There’s a good chance that Republicans, also capable of reading polls, may jump on this bandwagon, too.

Rep. Charles Rangel, a Democrat from New York, told the Wall Street Journal that benefits have “not kept pace with globalization.” Details are pending on Rangel’s proposed “globalization adjustment assistance” program.

In Western Europe, dislocated workers are provided substantially better benefits than Americans caught in the same situation.  ”In fiscal year 2006, Congress appropriated about $655 million for income support payments and another $220 million for training for trade-affected workers,” according to a recent GAO report on the Trade Adjustment Assistance program.

Not coincidentally, this measure comes on the heels of several new free-trade agreements - and two months of subpar employment reports. Unemployment remains a mild 4.7% in the U.S., but new job creation has slowed to a trickle.

Many Americans believe that America is not keeping pace in the global economy - free trade is one of the key concerns. Last week, President Bush said that Americans are losing “confidence in our ability to compete internationally.”

Globalization, global trade and global outsourcing - possibly unemployment too - will be emotional issues in the 2008 presidential election and primaries.