Global Labour Market

Description:

Increasingly the labour pool and the need for labour has become disjoint between nations. This is to say, supply and demand of labour has become out of balance in different countries. For example, in recent years there has been a surplus of engineering talent in India, and a lack of such talent in the US. The result has been immigration, with the US issuing almost a million H1-B visas since 2000. The same inbalances exist in many parts of the labour market.

However, periodically anti-immigration sentiment grows. Politicians and political parties such as Fortuyn, Wilders, Le Pen, Buchannan, Kjærsgaard, Haider, the BNP, etc. fan these flames and push for tighter controls. Often this saps the lifeblood of an economy, stifles innovation and destroys entire industries. Businesses then have to scramble to have their needs met.

The internet allows for an alternative to immigration. It allows greater flexibility in the labour market by connecting disjointed people and allowing them to collaborate while not in the same place. The needs of the labour market are likely to have a great influence on how the internet develops, just as the internet is likely to have an influence on the future of the labour market.

Enablers:

Factors which strengthen this driving force. (these are actually other driving forces, and you can link to them in the wiki!)
1. Aging population, 
2. Worldwide and higher lifelong education, 
3. Increasing racism in Europe and America, 
4. My job is not the only thing in my life ANYMORE!!!!, 
5. Low cost of Internet Connections, 
6. Increasing Use of e-Commerce,  

Inhibitors:

Factors which weaken this driving force. (these are actually other driving forces, and you can link to them in the wiki!)
1. Tradition, 
2. Weak infrastructure in some countries, 
3. "Office culture", 

Paradigms:

Old: You work at an office, which is a physical place. If you live in a country without the right jobs you move to one with them.
New: You live where you like and where the government will allow you. You work for whichever company offers the right job.

Timing:

1992 Buchannan makes first bid for US President on anti-Mexican platform. Shocks country by winning first primary against incumbant Pres. George Bush Sr. before fading.
1994 California Prop 187 denies emergency medical treatment and education to undocumented aliens
2000 H1-B quota raised to 195k/year
2000 Haider's Freedom Party joins Austrian government
2001 US immegration tightened after Sept. 11
2001 Kjærsgaard joins Danish government
2002 Fortuyn killed
2003 Le Pen finishes second in French elections
2004 Bush proposes new "guest worker" programme. Meassure fails to pass in legislature amid anti-Mexican and anti-Arab rhetoric.
2004 Attacks on Dutch Mosques, Wilders rises in polls