“Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (2317.TW) said Tuesday it…plans to increase the use of robotic arms across its production lines to cope with rising demand for electronics and increasing costs…Hon Hai aims to increase robotic arms to 1 million units by 2013 from 10,000 currently…Hon Hai plans to increase automation on “dangerous and monotonous” tasks and to migrate more of its workers to “value-added” jobs such as product research and development.”
Lorraine Luk, Hon Hai Says To Increase Automation But Will Also Boost Work Force, Dow Jones Newswires, August 02, 201, published at FoxBusines,
“In 1998…Chinese universities and colleges produced 830,000 graduates a year. Last May, that number was more than six million and rising…the supply of those trained in accounting, finance and computer programming now seems limitless, and their value has plunged. Between 2003 and 2009…starting pay for college graduates stayed the same, although their wages actually decreased if inflation is taken into account.”
Andrew Jacobs, China’s Army of Graduates Struggles for Jobs, New York Times, December 11, 2010
“…among citizens between the ages of 25 and 34 in developed countries, America ranked 12th [for percentage of 25- to 34-year-olds with an Associate Degree or higher, 2007]. In this key demographic group, Canada, Korea, the Russian Federation, Japan, New Zealand, Ireland, Norway, Israel, France, Belgium and Australia are ahead of the United States. Also, Denmark and Sweden are close to parity with our nation.”
John Michael Lee, Jr. and Anita Rawls, The College Completion Agenda: 2010 Progress Report, CollegeBoard Advocacy and Policy Center,
“The world, in terms of choices available to educated, ambitious workers and entrepreneurs, is way bigger than just the United States, Japan and Europe.”
Paul Singer, founder of Elliot Management, as quoted in The Economic Manifesto of Elliott’s Paul Singer, By Evelyn M. Rusli and Azam Ahmed.
‘American jobs have been moving overseas for more than two decades. In recent years, though, those jobs have become more sophisticated — think semiconductors and software, not toys and clothes…[quoting Jeffrey Sachs, globalization expert and economist at Columbia University:] “What’s changed is that companies today are getting top talent in emerging economies, and the U.S. has to really watch out.”‘
Pallavi Gogoi, Many U.S. companies are hiring … overseas: One reason why U.S. unemployment remains as high as it is, Associated Press, 12/28/2010, published at MSNBC.
———————–Comments———————–
The U.S. is not alone in the world in the pursuit of high end jobs to grow middle class incomes and not likely to be successful enough in that endeavor to revitalize U.S middle class income growth. The following global trends are moving strongly against high end job growth in the U.S. and the U.S. economic policy approach does not address these trends.
- Rapid automation of production processes across the globe is increasing citizen pressure on the world’s governments to train more and more workers for high end jobs
- Competition among the world’s numerous nations for investments that create high end jobs is intensifying as global employment growth stagnates
- Expanding global investments in higher education are increasing competition among highly educated workers for an insufficient number of high end jobs
- U.S. corporations are taking advantage of the growing number of nations with educated workers to bargain with highly educated U.S. workers for wages and benefits concessions.
IWE WORK FUTURES 