Wednesday, September 24, 2003
A few articles have appeared recenty that illustrate well how globalization has taken on a new double dimension.
Since the early 1980's we have been losing higher wage, lower skill jobs to lower cost locations. First, to Mexico and other low cost locations in this hemisphere. Later, in the 1990's these jobs moved to places like the Pearl River Delta in China, near Hong Kong.
As this story from Kentucky shows, this trend of losing higher wage, lower skill jobs is continuing. This is the trend that is pummeling manufacturing in rural areas. Read more.
In the later 1990's, with the maturation of the Internet, we see another trend emerging. The loss of higher skill, higher wage jobs to locations like India.
The competition here is more sophisticated. It relies on having a base of globally competitive educational institutions and sophisticated combination of technical, project management and business management skills.
That's the trend that you see in these two articles. One from Colorado Springs. Go. And another from St. Paul, Minnesota. Go.
Today in our history of innovation...
In 1889, Alexander Dey patented the first punch clock to record employee time.
posted by Ed Morrison |
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Some Background on EDPro Weblog
The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it.
One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information.
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Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development
As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking.
Background on Ed Morrison
Download some background information on me here.
Double whammy of globalization
