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The 2008 Olympics were spectacular. China put on the greatest show ever and the USA won a ton of gold and broke olympic records. But, by the time you read this, China will likely be named the largest manufacturer of goods on the planet pushing the United States into second place. New technologies have made it possible for companies to begin moving many different kinds of jobs to China. China has perfected cheap manufacturing and they are branching out into the service sectors as well. Today, if you have a question concerning your checking account at Bank of America, your phone call will be answered by someone in Pakistan. If you get an X-ray at your local hospital, the technician who reads your X-ray is probably in Russia. McDonald's is experimenting with "outsourcing" the order-taking process at its drive-thru's. That's right, when you order a hamburger and fries you could be talking to someone sitting in India who will relay your order back to the very building you're looking at. Why? In each of those examples, and thousands more, the answer is always the same - Someone somewhere else can do it for less and, soon, China will be the one doing it for less. It's globalization or the "world economy" in action. How will globalization affect you and your family in the future? That depends on where you live and work. As of this writing, if you remove the cost of oil imported by the United States, the United States exports more than we import and we are the #1 manufacturing power in the world. If you live in an industrialized nation, like the USA, where labor costs are relatively high, you can expect to see even more job losses and a reduction in wages over the coming decades. If you are living in a country with a very low cost of labor, you could experience short-term gains in employment opportunities and wage levels as more and more jobs are located in your country. Short-term gains? Yes...because there are over 1.3 billion people living in China and they're learning to manufacture everything. They're learning to do everything. And they get paid pennies per day. However, as all democratic industrialized nations have shown, at some point the work force will organize and refuse to settle for pennies. The pendulum will swing the other way. The global economy will eventually become a level playing field. In the meantime, whether you live in a country where the cost of labor is high or low, either you, or your children, or your grandchildren will feel the sinister side of globalization. More and more jobs will be lost to cheaper labor markets, local wages will fall and unemployment will rise. This is increasing the demand for low priced goods and services, forcing more goods and services to be provided by the cheapest labor on the planet, and eliminating even more jobs. It's a classic self-feeding downward spiral. Don't believe me? Just go stand outside your local Super Wal-Mart store and watch the people going in and coming out with every kind of item imaginable. Do those people look wealthy to you? Probably not. More than likely they're middle-class working people who need to take advantage of Wal-Mart's low prices so they can stretch a paycheck from this Friday to next. Now think about this - 93% of the items on Wal-Mart's shelves are made in China. You can see why we can reasonably predict that China will become the manufacturing center for the world, as well as the primary provider of many services that can be outsourced as a result of technological advances. What can you do? Act now to find a way of providing for your family. Pretend you have already had your job sent to China. Be proactive. Don't wait until your job evaporates. Get technical training for the new jobs in the hot future markets or go into business for yourself. You don't have to be a victim of globalization. Jim DeSantis is a retired TV News Anchor and partner in Online Business Alliance ( here ), a group of like-minded people helping each other succeed on line. Jim also publishes "Gifts from Jim DeSantis" ( here ), a blog offering free ebooks and software on many topics.
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globalization, outsourcing, global-economy, China, manufacturing-jobs, workforce, jobs, job-trends, future-jobs,
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