While trade wars have been dominating headlines, globalization’s impact on labor has gone largely unnoticed. Global trade now favors more knowledge-intensive labor over low-cost, unskilled labor. How will this affect the future of work? Laura Tyson, distinguished professor and faculty director of the Institute for Business & Social Impact at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, and Susan Lund, partner and leader of the McKinsey Global Institute, discuss why globalized economies are in transition with World Affairs CEO Jane Wales. We want to hear from you! Please take part in a quick survey to tell us how we can improve our podcast: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PWZ7KMW

Susan Lund and Laura Tyson: Globalization in Transition: High-Skilled Labor is Now the Holy Grail

Geopolitical turmoil. A warming planet. Authoritarians on the rise. We live in a chaotic world that’s rapidly shifting around us. 

“On Shifting Ground with Ray Suarez” explores international fault lines and how they impact us all. 

Each week, NPR veteran Ray Suarez hosts conversations with journalists, leaders and policy experts to help us read between the headlines – and give us hope for human resilience.

A co-production of World Affairs and KQED.

News

Government

Next Monday (5/13) at noon PT, we're hosting a  special live event where Ray will peel back the curtain on his latest book,  We Are Home: Becoming American in the 21st Century.   He'll be joined in conversation by the amazing Ali Noorani, Director of the U.S. Democracy Program at The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.   You can get your tickets  here. Ray will take questions from the audience at the end of the program!   We Are Home: Becoming American in the 21st Century   Immigrants to America have always faced resistance, and have always – over time – assimilated and become vital parts of America. This is a process as old as the nation itself, and it can't be stopped, no matter how many – or how few – new immigrants arrive every year.   But in a fraught political moment where “America First” is threatening their security, what does it mean to be an immigrant in the 21st century?   Ray Suarez has criss-crossed the country to speak to new Americans from all corners of the globe, and to record their stories.

Special Live Event: Ray Suarez on Being American in the 21st Century

Silicon Valley relies on a huge foreign born workforce, mostly from India and China, to provide specialized skills in fields like engineering, biotech, AI and computer science. But after layoff, these visa holders have 60 days to find a new job, or lose their residency in the United States.   In 2023, tech reporter Pranav Dixit dug into the mass layoffs in Silicon Valley, and why these drastic reductions were forcing some foreign-born workers to reevaluate the decision to live in the US. At the time he was working for Buzzfeed News. But when the news unit shut down, Dixit was put in the same precarious situation as the H-1B workers he covered in his reporting.   Ray Suarez catches up with Pranav Dixit to get an update on his complicated journey to find new work, and his race to stay in the United States.    Read more of Pranav Dixit’s reporting for Buzzfeed:  Laid-Off Tech Workers On H-1B Visas Might Be Forced To Leave The Country   Guest:   Pranav Dixit, senior editor at Engadget   Host:     Ray Suarez  If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

On Borrowed Time: A Tech Reporter’s Precarious Race to Stay in the US

In 2018, Chinese scientist He Jianku sent shockwaves through the world’s medical and scientific world when he claimed to have made two children immune to HIV using a powerful gene-editing technology called “CRISPR”. After a three-year prison sentence, Jianku is back in the lab, but should he be experimenting with human genes?   Ray Suarez talks with Dr. Alta Charo, the Warren P. Knowles Professor Emerita of Law and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, about the ethics of CRISPR, and the opportunities and risks of the technology.   Guest:   Dr. Alta Charo, the Warren P. Knowles Professor Emerita of Law and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison   Host:   Ray Suarez, host of World Affairs   If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Should We Be Afraid of Gene-Editing?

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, access to water in Gaza has dropped by 95 percent since October 7th, and as many as seven-in-ten Gazans are drinking salty and contaminated water to survive. Water is at the center of environmental challenges facing the whole Middle East, and it is perhaps the most pressing concern for desperate Gazans. So what are regional NGOs doing to provide clean water to millions of displaced people?   Climate One’s Greg Dalton speaks with Nada Majdalani, Palestinian Director of EcoPeace Middle East, about Ecopeace’s three-decade journey to water security in the Middle East. Then, Ray Suarez speaks with Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed, Executive Director of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, to understand how climate scientists are trying to rebuild in Gaza following the recent violence.   Guests:    Nada Majdalani, Palestinian Director of EcoPeace Middle East    Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed, Executive Director of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies   Host:    Ray Suarez   Greg Dalton, founder and co-host, Climate One

Water Security, and Why Israelis and Gazans Must Work Together

By 2030, it’s estimated one out of every six people on planet earth will be over 60. Thanks to leaps in technology and public health, people are living longer and better than ever before.    We’re taking a look at what economists and demographers are calling “the Silver Wave.” Ray speaks with MIT’s Joseph F. Coughlin,and New York Times Tokyo Bureau Chief Motoko Rich, on the challenges – and opportunities – that global aging presents.    Guests:    Joseph F. Coughlin, PhD, Founder and Director of MIT’s AgeLab   Motoko Rich, Tokyo Bureau Chief for the New York Times   Host:   Ray Suarez   If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.  

Susan Lund and Laura Tyson: Globalization in Transition: High-Skilled Labor is Now the Holy Grail

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