Globalization, Labor Flows and Work Ethic

An illuminating analysis by Pallavi Aiyar (a must read for anyone interested in the topic of globalization): Europe Divided Over Immigration, Work Ethics. Here is a key insight from Aiyar:

“Contemporary Europeans have been enjoying the fruit of the long battles waged by the labor movement well into the latter half of the 20th century. The social contracts that they consider sacrosanct are a hard-won privilege, which have ossified into entitlements. The historical amnesia that allows Europeans the conceit that their culture is somehow inherently superior to that of grasping and crude Asia’s is rarely acknowledged.

Time and again I was told without an iota of self-reflexivity: “We are not like the Chinese. Money is not everything to us.” Time spent with the family, eating a wholesome lunch, puttering around the garden and taking vacations were the priorities in life. Not just making money.

But homes with gardens, delicious meals and relaxing vacations do not materialize for free. The fact is that this hierarchy of “values” across much of Western Europe is underpinned by the kind of enormous welfare benefits and economic protectionism, including industry-wide wages and provisions making termination near impossible, is increasingly unsustainable.”

(For anyone interested in the complex Indo-Chinese relations, Pallavi Aiyar’s Smoke and Mirrors is a great read)

UPDATE:
Germany Boosts Its Recruitment of Skilled Immigrants
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-10/germany-needs-big-brains-to-navigate-demographic-cliff.html