Has Globalization Hurt the American Worker?

Much of the world has been thrust into the arena of globalization. Many of the people affected by this phenomenon have been reluctant to embrace the ideal of a world wide market. It is not so much the ideal that corporations can extend their reach across the globe and increase revenue, but the trouble is that the respective countries' workforce is often discarded in an effort to increase a company's profits through cheap labor, and less restrictive manufacturing laws.

As early as the 1980s Americans started to feel the pain of lost jobs due to companies outsourcing to other countries. One of the first and hardest hit industries was the steel industry. Many of the American steel mills were shut down in mostly small towns, thereby, destroying the economy and the living standards of those communities.

Next, America saw the loss of automobile manufacturing when the large car manufacturers decided that it was much more cost effective to move their manufacturing plants out of America and into countries such as Mexico. Although, due to the public outcry and the power of the United Auto Worker's Union, manufacturers were forced to leave some of their operations open in the United States.

In the 1990s, America's workforce has seen almost all of its manufacturing jobs outsourced to other countries. To date, America's only job resource left is in the service industry. However, even the customer service industry has been outsourced to other countries, and with the advances in computer technology it is only a matter of time before even service will be outsourced.

As little as fifteen years ago the United States saw a boom in the computer industry, and Silicone Valley was a hotbed of activity for many technologically based professions. Everything from hardware manufacturing to software development had its place in the U.S. economy. However, even with such a booming market it was not to last due in large part to corporate greed. At first the outsourcing began with the large portions of the technology industries and programmers were the first to feel the pinch.