German and Japanese auto manufacturers succeed despite sticking to a high-wage model
The GM layoffs should not be blithely dismissed as another inevitable casualty of globalization.Nor are they a parable illustrating the dangers of increased protectionism (even though that is the narrative that GM wants you to believe). In fact, it is part of a much broader story, particularly in the U.S., where workers continue to deal with the consequences of labor casualization (i.e., flexible “alternative work arrangements”), the outsourcing of manufacturing to other countries, and the ultimate blowback to these increasingly financialized corporations, such as GM, as they continue to embrace measures that degrade their workforce, diminishing America’s viability as a source of highlyskilled, good-paying jobs as a consequence.
If U.S. companies keep outsourcing to the lowest wages possible, they will destroy themselves as well as the market they are supposed to be selling their products to.
