Globalization is the process regarding an increasing interaction of people, states, or countries through the growth of the international flow of money, ideas, and culture. It can also be tied to business ventures where businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale. The idea of globalization has become very controversial in the United States labor market. There are many pros and cons on how it affects the labor markets. Along with the labor market controversy people also debate over whether globalization is a threat or opportunity to the United States economy. Although Globalization has brought a significantly positive impact on most countries in terms of economy, culture, and politics, it also has left some drawbacks behind on the same aspects.
In 1492 Globalization struck the world, due to the voyages sent out by the two kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. The voyages led to development of agriculture beginning globalization by converting the vast majority of the world's population into a settled lifestyle. However, globalization failed to accelerate due to lack of long distance interaction and technology. The contemporary aspect of globalization began to take off in the middle of the 19th century as capital and labor mobility increased coupled with the decreased costs of transportation. This ultimately led to a “smaller world”. Due to the increasing long distance interaction and technology, globalization has began to progress, but not without some uncertainty. Ever since the 1980’s the world economy has rapidly increased it’s connection and integration. As the transportation costs decrease, and the diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies have implied a fast downgrading of distance, gross trade, capital flows and technology transfers have significantly increased. The United States in particular is one of the most globalized countries in the world, which leads to many pros and cons.
In most countries, the current wave of globalization has been accompanied by increasing concern about its impact in terms of employment and income distribution. In order to examine each stage of globalization, first a person must understand each stage in terms of its specific characteristics. Archaic globalization is characterized by the trade networks that occurs from foreigners and closely related countries sending out missions to receive wealth and foreign goods. Proto Globalization promotes a difficult pattern of trade through the trading of goods on a large scale. Proto globalization also involves the growth of finance, services, and improved efficiency in transactions. Lastly, Modern Globalization is the increase of industrialization and modern nation, usually shown by imperialism.
Globalization may be regarded as beneficial from an economic and business point of view, but however cannot be perceived the ditto when examined from the social sciences and humanities side of it. Globalization can be argued as a tool for economic growth, advancement and prosperity through co-operation between the developed and developing countries. The pro-globalization critics argue that the benefits that globalization brings to developing nations surpasses or outcasts the negative impacts caused by globalization and may even go a step further to state that it is the only source of hope for developing nations to prosper and stand out. “Proponents of globalization argue that it allows poor countries and their citizens to develop economically and raise their standards of living, while opponents of globalization claim that the creation of an unfettered international free market has benefited multinational corporations in the Western world at the expense of local enterprises, local cultures, and common people”(However, the real question to be asked is as to what extent are the positives argued upon without taking into account the negative aspects of globalization towards developing countries. Moreover, how many developing countries out of many are exactly benefiting or even prospering from globalization is another question to consider.
There are many pros whenever it comes to globalization and how it has affected the United States labor market. From globalization it has opened up more markets, which helps American companies sell their products worldwide. If markets around the world did not exist the U.S. would not be able to have the interaction with other countries in order to gain product but also sell theirs as well. Not only have markets around the world opened up but there has been a rise of multinational corporations which has helped increase their influence on the world. Having the corporations worldwide aids the American corporations in selling their products outside of the country and keeps the United States “on top” or near the top economically. Globalization is most importantly the increase of interactions between different people, states, and countries. Therefore, it has greatly increased the real-time communication abilities between different international organizations and countries. Because of this it has allowed for a greater emphasis on international cooperation. With nations cooperating it leads to many different groups of people to start in the pursuit to accomplish one common interest or goal. The ability for countries to cooperate could lead to new jobs, workplaces, culture, more money and ideas. Lastly, another pro for globalization is it allows for cheaper products for Americans to purchase and lower prices. This is due to the cheaper labor that makes the product. Cheaper prices allow for the standard of living for Americans to increase. Using 1997 financial crisis and other examples, discuss how globalization is important to the modern business journalism. Introduction
As we know, the Internet has a great contribution to globalisation. At the same time, globalisation shows its impact on economy and culture. Held and McGrew rightly defined globalsation is “[…] a widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary social life, from the cultural to the criminal, the financial to the spiritual (Held and McGrew 1999 P.2)”.
On the other side of the controversy there are cons to globalization in the United States labor markets. Due to the competition for jobs amongst the people, United States citizens have lost jobs to foreign workers. The foreign workers are willing to work for less money and in worse conditions. Now the American workforce has to compete with the foreign workers within companies and often they are replaced by those who are willing to work for less. Along with the competition of jobs the United States also has a major trade deficit. In order to stay a powerful nation the United States has to learn how to deal with the work and trade deficits they are being faced with. Since the overall employment impact of trade and the FDI is uncertain, it is important to pay attention to these relationships in order to function as efficiently as possible. On the one hand, some believe that both trade and the FDI should take advantage of the abundance of low-skilled labour arguing that it's ultimately a better choice.
Many consider globalization as a threat to the United States economy but also many people believe it is an opportunity. Globalization means that economic activity flows in both directions. Although we may lose jobs to foreign workers, we also may gain jobs and boost economic activity. Its open trade creates opportunities in the United States by helping foreign economies become stronger. As incomes grow in other countries, so does their demand for goods and services, many of which those countries will not be able to produce. This rise in foreign demand for imports is an opportunity for U.S. companies to compete to provide those products. It would be unfortunate to miss that opportunity because it would mean a loss of export sales and jobs in those areas.