Globalisation is the interconnection between counties through the expansion of foreign trade and foreign investment. It is the process of integrating the home country with the foreign countries through the movement of goods, services, investment, technology and people. Globalisation has created many employment opportunities for both skilled and unskilled workers in many sectors like transportation, IT and other service sectors. But the extreme integration of the economy and the pressure of competition has negatively affected the workers with a higher intensity. Some of the challenges faced by them are:
- Challenges to small traders: Because of the growing competition from the MNCs, small companies who are unable to withstand the increased competition are shutting down their companies. The unchecked imports of the goods without any restrictions and the aggressive advertising strategies taken by the MNCs has resulted in the closure of many small, domestic industries leading to large unemployment. The import of cheap, highly advertised commodities has created brand domination in many sectors. This has rendered many workers unemployed. Batteries, plastics, toys, tyres and foodstuff are some industries where the small manufacturers are worst hit.
- Uncertainty in jobs: Government is providing many incentives for the MNCs to attract foreign companies. In the organised sector, the rights of the workers are protected. But MNCs are allowed to overlook many of these rules. One such incentive provided to the MNCs is flexibility in labour laws. According to this, the companies are allowed to hire workers for short periods of time when the pressure of work is more, rather than hiring them on regular basis. This is a way to reduce the cost of production for the companies. With the increasing competition in the market, MNCs placing orders for their products in the domestic countries are forcing the domestic producers to employ workers on a temporary basis to reduce their cost of production. Thus, they need not pay them for the whole year and can employ additional workers only during the peak seasons of demand. Also, workers are made to work overtime, but they are paid less. This results in uncertainty in jobs.
- Unemployment: Globalisation has resulted in jobless growth. The employment opportunity created through globalisation is not sufficient enough to absorb the entire Indian workforce. On the top, the technology revolution brought about by globalisation has rendered many unemployed. Many jobs earlier performed by human labour is now replaced by machines. The replacement of human labour by machines has increased the unemployment level in the economy.
