Global competition not quite
Excellent article in the FT by Michael Lind on the myths of economic competition. Here's the link, it might be subscriber only. Anyway Lind's argument is as follows:You often see something like this:
In today's global economy, any job can be performed anywhere. In order to compete in a global labour market, all students in advanced industrial countries need to be highly trained in science and mathematics. In order to compete in the global economy, the advanced industrial nations must downsize generous welfare states.
It's all basically false. First, most jobs, particularly in the service sector, need to be performed near where they are demanded, such as nursing or house-building. Indeed it appears McKinsey found 89% of service sector jobs were not outsourceable. Second, the largest growing sectors are things like nursing, which don't need advanced mathematics. Furthermore, there is no evidence that generous welfare states inhibit growth.
posted by Matthew @ 7/28/2005 10:11:00 PM
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