The world needs 600 million new jobs

http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC120125-0000054/World-needs-600-million-new-jobs-in-next-decade

The world needs 600 million new jobs over the next decade. How can these jobs be created? Here are my views on  this global challenge:

• Global competition results in income disparity
• Stagnant wage for most people destroy their spending power for products and services
• The reduced spending destroys economic growth and jobs

While globalization has been destroying demand and jobs for over two decades, its impact was temporarily hidden by the real estate and stock market bubbles, which created non-productive jobs in the financial sector to replace the destroyed jobs, until the bursting of these bubbles.

To create new jobs, the following steps have to be taken:

• Reduce the wage disparity by introducing minimum wage and high taxes for extremely high incomes
• Reduce the working hours, so that more people can be employed to share the available work
• Introduce measures to restrict outsourcing and the inflow of foreign labor 

I am referring to the global situation and not specifically to Singapore. However, Singapore will also face the same impacts. While Singapore now benefits from globalization, it is at the expense of other countries, and is not good for the long term growth of the global economy.

AFTER NOTE:

Even the Republican candidates are willing to raise the minimum wage, as they recognize the realities of the bad economic situation. http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/01/24/a-new-day-for-the-minimum-wage/?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29