In Praise of the United States—And The Question Of Education

Filed under: Global Business Issues,Human Resources,Management,Opinions/Blogs |

Peter Cappelli, professor of management and director of the Center for Human Resources at The Wharton School, writing filed this overview of global employment and education from last week’s World Economic Forum in Switzerland, in his column at heronline.com.

One of the answers to unemployment is entrepreneurship that can actually create new jobs.

For those of us in the United States, it is astonishing to hear how people in many parts of the world have a deep suspicion of entrepreneurs and resist their efforts. It’s not just bureaucracy and red tape that get in their way; it’s social and cultural stigma.

Some of this is a legacy of communism and its principles; some of it is envy of people who get rich in poor countries.

The United States is seen — by far — as the best place to start businesses and the place where foreigners need to come to do so, not just because of the resources available, but because it is viewed here as an honorable and desirable thing to do.

Here is something related that is really shocking, at least to me: The United States is seen by most everyone from elsewhere as a country that has its act together, where we are on the road to economic recovery. Not just that, but also that our political conflicts are relatively modest. I know, you’re thinking: “Wow, how bad things must be elsewhere!”

And rightfully so, especially in Europe.

Back to unemployment, the other answer one often hears is education; that more education will help economies grow.

Certainly, in developing countries, there is no doubt that literacy has to improve for those countries to participate in the modern economy. Countries such as India and China are growing so quickly that their higher-education systems have not been able to keep up, and there are not enough graduates with technical skills to meet demand.

Read the rest of Peter Cappelli’s post here:

http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/view/story.jhtml?id=534354895

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