El Opinador Compulsivo

Más sobre este tema, el testimonio de Daniel Griswold, de Cato, sobre las condiciones de trabajo en los países en desarrollo, ante el subcomité de Comercio, Turismo y Desarrollo Económico del Comité de Comercio, Ciencia y Transporte del Senado de los EEUU:

The Best ‘Anti-Sweatshop’ Policy: Expanding U.S. Trade with Developing Countries

American workers are not pitted in zero-sum competition with workers in poor countries. There is no global “race to the bottom” on labor standards. Through specialization, global incomes and working conditions can rise for workers in all countries that participate in the global economy. American workers can compete profitably in world markets because we are so much more productive. Because of our education, infrastructure, efficient domestic markets, the rule of law, political stability, and a generally open economy, American workers compete and prosper in a broad range of sectors. As our country has become more globalized in the past 25 years, American workers and their families have enjoyed significant increases in real incomes, compensation, and wealth.

Nor has trade with developing countries undermined America’s manufacturing base. According to the latest figures from the Federal Reserve Board, the output of America’s factories in 2006 was more than 50 percent higher than in the early 1990s before NAFTA and the World Trade Organization came into being. American factories are producing more aircraft and pharmaceuticals, more sophisticated machinery and semiconductors, more chemicals and even more passenger vehicles and parts than 15 years ago. It is true that output of clothing, shoes and other low-tech goods has been declining, but those are not the industries of the future for the world’s most sophisticated economy. U.S. factories can produce more with fewer workers because manufacturing productivity has been growing so rapidly.