Bloomberg Businessweek-Europe Edition November 4, 2019

the shocks of the new economy

actionable solutions, and inspire the world. This issue of Bloomberg Businessweek is dedicated to those ideals. The New Economy Forum is timely, first, because wealth and power continue to shift to the rising economies of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Indeed, the World Bank projects that in 2020 the emerging economies will grow at 4.6% on average, compared with just 1.5% for developed economies. The forum is well-timed for another reason. It’s being held in Beijing against a backdrop of growing tension and fundamental change in U.S.-China relations. The next century’s geopolitical landscape hinges on how this suddenly fragile relationship evolves. As corporations, governments, and leaders of civil society seek to navigate the New Economy, a better understanding of these key shifts and shocks will be essential. More than ever,…

calling all strivers

Governments the world over are grappling with how to make immigration work for their economies without fanning political flames. Nativism helped crystallize support for Brexit in the U.K. and almost cost German Chancellor Angela Merkel a fourth term. President Trump says the U.S. immigration system is “broken”—and while some of his opponents may grudgingly agree with that, there is little common ground on how to repair it. For inspiration on possible fixes, Americans might look north to Canada, which uses a points-based system to screen economic migrants—a group that makes up almost 60% of its immigrants. The method, which factors in criteria such as education and work experience, is a reason only 27% of Canadians regard immigrants as a burden on their country—the lowest percentage among the 18 nations surveyed in…

japan nudges the door open

Mexicans toiling in America’s chicken processing plants, Indians sweltering on Dubai construction sites, Filipina nannies tending to the children of Malaysia’s middle class. They’re among the world’s estimated 164 million guest workers, according to the International Labor Organization. The jobs are often hard and sometimes dangerous, but the money these workers wire home—$480 billion in 2017, according to the United Nations—makes the risks worth taking. “Poverty in the sending countries is what keeps the whole thing going,” says historian Cindy Hahamovitch, author of No Man’s Land, a 2011 book about migrant labor programs. Japan, a country that’s long resisted immigration, officially began issuing temporary visas to unskilled foreign workers in April. After years of insisting the country’s labor shortages could be solved by employing more women, delaying the retirement age, and…

van linh nguyen

“Eighty percent of me wants to stay.… It’s easy here, it’s convenient” KI-Star Real Estate Co., north of Tokyo in Saitama prefecture, used to outsource construction work, but labor shortages drove prices too high. In 2013 the developer started bringing in carpenters from Vietnam, where labor is much cheaper. Van Linh Nguyen, a tool repairman from Hanoi, was the first hire. The 32-year-old now manages a crew of 46 Vietnamese men. “I want him to join management,” says Mamoru Sonobe, the head of KI’s construction business. That idea is more plausible now that Japan has cracked open a path to permanent residency. Nguyen has a visa that lets him work in the country for the next five years. (He may later be able to convert it into one that lets him settle.) He…

making the grade in canada

Canada welcomed 321,040 immigrants last year, the largest number since 1913. Almost 60% were economic migrants chosen for their potential to put down roots in a land where winter temperatures routinely drop below freezing. Canada wasn’t always selective about who it took in. After a couple of decades of unchecked immigration from postwar Europe, concerns began to build that new arrivals weren’t contributing to the economy, says Stephanie Bangarth, an associate history professor at Western University in London, Ont. In 1967 the government introduced a point system that graded aspiring residents on criteria such as age, language proficiency, and skills. The framework has endured, though rules have been amended many times to reflect changing priorities. Like many developed economies, Canada faces the prospect of low fertility rates and retiring baby boomers. If…

osman ansari

“I’ve grown up more in this place than I would have in any other. It’s shown me what I’m made of” Osman Ansari works as a project manager at fintech company Koho Financial Inc. in Toronto. The 30-year-old came to Canada in 2015 from Karachi to study. Achieving permanent status was, he says, a “bumpy road.” It should have taken six months, but it took 11, because he had issues proving he could support himself. (Ansari wasn’t working at Koho when he applied for residency, and he doesn’t have any immediate family in Toronto.) Now that he’s in Canada for good, he ultimately wants to work as a business strategist to help tech companies grow. Excerpts from a conversation with Bloomberg Businessweek: “I’m coming from Pakistan, where we’ve basically been in a…