Globalization of the High Tech Labor Force

Globalization of the High Tech Labor Force

In collaboration with Henrik Glimstedt, Institute of International Business, Stockholm School of Economics
Funding from Svenska Handelsbanken

This project employs in-depth institutional and organizational studies to analyze the forces that driving the globalization of labor in the information and communication technology (ICT) industries.  Since the 1960s the development strategies of national governments and indigenous businesses in many Asian nations have interacted with the investment strategies of western ICT companies and the immigration policies of western advanced economies to generate a global labor supply of educated and experienced ICT workers.   This process has entailed flows of western capital to Asian labor as well as flows of Asian labor to western capital.  As a result new possibilities to pursue high-tech careers, and thereby develop productive capabilities, have opened up to vast numbers of individuals in many Asian nations.  At the same time, in North America and the European Union, many well educated and highly experienced ICT employees are vulnerable to having their jobs offshored.  The analysis of the globalization of the high-tech labor force is essential for understanding a) the dynamics of development in major Asian nations such as China and India, b) the possibilities for these dynamics to take hold in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Africa, and c) the appropriate policy responses in the advanced economies to the loss of high-quality jobs.


Recent Papers:

“Globalization of the ICT Labor Force,” in Robin Mansell, Chrisanthi Avgerou, Danny Quah, and Roger Silverstone, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Information and Communication Technologies, Oxford University Press, 2007: 75-99.

William Lazonick, “Indigenous Innovation and Economic Development: Lessons from China’s Leap into the Information Age,” Industry & Innovation, 11, 4, 2004: 273-298; translated into Chinese in Review of Political Economy (Renmin University of China), 2, 2006: 117-142.

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