Labor

In attempting to promote “insourcing” by American companies, the Obama Administration has embraced the report of a private consulting firm that asserts that gains in “competitiveness” can only be maintained with policies that have yielded lower wages and weak unions. The President praised business leaders who have brought jobs home for their patriotism, but experts suggested that businesses were simply looking at their bottom line.

Our article on how German automakers treat their workers in the U.S. less well than those in Germany highlighted a critical national choice: create structures that help to level the playing field between management and labor, or surrender to the pernicious idea that nothing can or should be done to restrict an employer race to the bottom.

Our article on German automakers in the U.S. (lower wages, non-union) versus German same automakers in Germany (higher wages, fully unionized) generated a series of questions and criticisms.

The big three German automakers pay high wages and have high union membership at home, the opposite of the conditions in their U.S. factories. The difference is that, here, a race to the bottom is encouraged.

While increasing attention has been paid to the economic effects of underemployment, the psychological consequences have been largely ignored even though they can be profoundly negative.

In BCG report, cost — not national allegiance or societal concerns — is the only value to consider in deciding where to locate and invest.

Department of Labor rules promote higher standard of living for workers, hold employers to promises of full-time work. DOL, worker advocates say rules will create incentive for Americans to take jobs, but employers say that the changes will be "catastrophic," insist they need low-wage, flexible-hour environment.