Individuals have been entering into the labor market in increased numbers over the past fifteen years. It has been estimated that more than 1.5 billion people have entered the global labor market during the past fifteen years and that another one billion will enter over the next ten years. Friedman (2005) argued that the development and spread of inexpensive technologies has flattened the world and facilitated the entry of all these workers into the workforce. One major consequence of both these trends is the ability of firms to employ workers in the developing economies of the world at much lower wages than is possible in the developed economies of the world.
Weekly wages in the developed economies are equivalent to monthly and even yearly wages in developing economies. The movement of work to an array of dispersed locations that may include both developed and developing economies is most likely to succeed when all employees have the needed the competencies and motivations to do the work, when the work of dispersed employees is effectively coordinated, and when a firm’s HR policies and practices are consistent with the full array of relevant employment regulations in every location.