The world's a better place
The Employment Trends survey predicts (and India Today reports) that the organized sector in India will expand by 5.34% resulting in approximately 1.5 million domestic jobs. Added to the four hundred thousand global jobs Indians are expected to bag, for the first time, Independent India will have a record 1.9 million jobs created in the organised sector. The nature of jobs too is evolving from being transaction-intensive to being knowledge-intensive. 10% of the jobs in India currently fall in this category, and the latter's structure is also more diverse than ever.
While several countries in Asia are riding the wings of globalization to march far ahead of the colonial rapacity that they suffered in the early nineteenth century, we find that other parts of the world are not impervious to such growth. China’s president Hu Jintao recently promised $3 billion in soft loans and a doubling of Chinese aid to Africa by 2009. Zambian copper, Nigerian oil, Tanzanian timber and South African platinum might be behind the soaring of trade between China and Africa by 40% to a record $55.5 billion last year. The impact is seen on growth in this region. For the third year in a row, sub-Saharan African countries grew on average by 6% and are inching toward 7% this year. At this rate, Africa's poverty rate will halve by 2015.
Similarly, Indian information companies find it cheaper to hire software program developers in central Europe and other low cost economies in Asia than in India. Software giants Infosys, Wipro and TCS have offices in Hungary, Romania and Russia. Vietnam's labor pool comprises around 80,000 IT graduates, a level that is increasing by around 9,000 per annum. Accenture, Unisys and Intel have established large contingents in the country.
Now, that's a run-up of the world. As a recent Forbes magazine article states, "never before have so many people been so well off, and never have so many people had the chance to improve their lot in life".
Yet, this process of growth and "creative destruction" is not without hiccups. But, that's the subject of another post.
While several countries in Asia are riding the wings of globalization to march far ahead of the colonial rapacity that they suffered in the early nineteenth century, we find that other parts of the world are not impervious to such growth. China’s president Hu Jintao recently promised $3 billion in soft loans and a doubling of Chinese aid to Africa by 2009. Zambian copper, Nigerian oil, Tanzanian timber and South African platinum might be behind the soaring of trade between China and Africa by 40% to a record $55.5 billion last year. The impact is seen on growth in this region. For the third year in a row, sub-Saharan African countries grew on average by 6% and are inching toward 7% this year. At this rate, Africa's poverty rate will halve by 2015.
Similarly, Indian information companies find it cheaper to hire software program developers in central Europe and other low cost economies in Asia than in India. Software giants Infosys, Wipro and TCS have offices in Hungary, Romania and Russia. Vietnam's labor pool comprises around 80,000 IT graduates, a level that is increasing by around 9,000 per annum. Accenture, Unisys and Intel have established large contingents in the country.
Now, that's a run-up of the world. As a recent Forbes magazine article states, "never before have so many people been so well off, and never have so many people had the chance to improve their lot in life".
Yet, this process of growth and "creative destruction" is not without hiccups. But, that's the subject of another post.
posted by Deepa at
8:26 AM
