Globalization and Labor Market Integration
Hany H. Makhlouf

Abstract
Globalization has accelerated the flow of goods, services, investments, and technology across national lines, but hasn’t done the same for labor resources. Instead of moving foreign workers to their home country plants, multinational companies move their plants to where the workers live. Global labor mobility, therefore, still lags behind other factors of production. This may be attributed, in part, to government restrictions on economic migration and on the right of foreign workers, particularly the less skilled ones, to compete for jobs across national markets and political demarcation lines. As a result, the labor markets in the various countries around the world remain largely un-integrated with the possible exception of some of the highly skilled elite segment. This paper explores changes in the labor markets, job gains and losses, and structural changes that impact the human capital in this age of globalization. It also examines the impact of the movement of capital, supply chains, and technology on the supply and demand for labor across the advanced, emerging, and developing economies.

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