Globalization of labor markets

The globalization of the labor markets is a development towards an increased global division of labor in the field of gainful employment . It forms a sub-area of globalization , alongside areas such as the increasing internationalization of the movement of goods and services, the financial and capital markets as well as transport and traffic. The increase in international trade in services is also partly attributed to the globalization of the labor markets.

Areas

The division of labor occurs either directly through the migration of workers (international labor migration , including the posting of expatriates ) or indirectly through the migration of jobs ( offshoring : the relocation of production facilities and service companies to other countries).

Labor migration

Above all for workers who carry out simple or standardized tasks or who only need a low level of qualification for their job, there are numerous workers available around the world at relatively low costs. Due to the lower costs of international travel, it is worthwhile for companies to recruit or send employees over long distances. Advances in IT mean that even more highly qualified activities can increasingly be carried out over greater distances, so that work is no longer closely tied to one place of work, but rather can be carried out in a decentralized or location-based manner. Areas such as online educational offers and telemedicine should be mentioned here . In addition, there is talk of a “separation of globalized labor markets into those for the highly qualified and those for the low-skilled”.

Offshoring

Cost reductions in the transport sector make the export of production facilities away from the consumer, but also the transport of raw materials and the partial outsourcing of individual production steps or entire production or service areas, financially attractive. Often it is about relocating to low-wage countries , but at the same time a wide range of hard and soft location factors come into play.

Developments and political positions

Governments and supranational actors

The migration policy is largely subject to national sovereignty. Migration is handled more openly or more restrictively in individual countries depending on the current economic situation, labor market situation and political climate. With regard to migration, “needs-based immigration” comes more into focus. Countries regulate immigration according to their own criteria, for example by introducing a point system for immigration , by concluding recruitment agreements with other countries or by promoting return .

At the same time, in the area of intergovernmental cooperation, particularly within the European Union , there is a need for transnational policy coordination. This affects labor market and economic policy as well as the policy on legal migration, refugee and asylum policy and dealing with illegal immigration .

In individual countries, such as China, India, Cuba, the Philippines and Romania, the governments actively support the posting of workers abroad and, in some cases, train people specifically for this purpose.

Employers' associations

Employer representatives point to the need to counteract a shortage of skilled workers in certain industries, occupations and regions. Migration has an impact on labor supply and economic growth.

Unions

Trade unions demand strict orientation according to the place of work principle - the principle that labor law and social standards of the place where the work is carried out - in order to prevent a segmentation of employees within the respective national labor market. In view of the globalization of the labor markets, you see a need for the formation of supranational unions. Purely national unions would no longer be sufficient. In September 2004, IG BAU initiated the establishment of the European Union of Migrant Workers (EVW or EMWU).

Organized crime

In the area of posting and agency work, it is assumed that organized crime will have a major impact in some countries of origin. This also relates to the field of illegal migration (especially trafficking , smuggling ) and the forced labor to modern forms of slavery .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Thomas Straubhaar : No more, but different migration! In: Standpunkt. Hamburgisches WeltWirtschafts Institut (HWWI), January 2008, accessed on July 29, 2018 .
↑ Kirsten Jensen-Dämmrich: Diversity Management: An Approach to Treating People Equally in the Field of Tension Between Globalization and Rationalization? , Rainer Hampp Verlag, 2011. ISBN 978-3-86618-711-5 . P. 166
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Frank Schmidt-Hullmann, Annelie Buntenbach: Globalization of the labor markets - some answers from the perspective of IG BAU. Retrieved July 29, 2018 .

[straubhaar-2008-1] Thomas Straubhaar : No more, but different migration! In: Standpunkt. Hamburgisches WeltWirtschafts Institut (HWWI), January 2008, accessed on July 29, 2018 .

[jensen-dämmrich-2011-2] Kirsten Jensen-Dämmrich: Diversity Management: An Approach to Treating People Equally in the Field of Tension Between Globalization and Rationalization? , Rainer Hampp Verlag, 2011. ISBN 978-3-86618-711-5 . P. 166

[hullmann-et-al-2006-3] Frank Schmidt-Hullmann, Annelie Buntenbach: Globalization of the labor markets - some answers from the perspective of IG BAU. Retrieved July 29, 2018 .