Hathersage Technologies is a California company that builds online information solutions for American companies for relatively low prices. The secret is to use a lot of foreign workers. Not foreign workers sitting in California, but workers who telecommute to California from abroad.
Think of these as 21st century migrants — telemigrants — who are competing for American white-collar and professional jobs without ever setting foot in the U.S. This tidal wave of talent is coming straight for the good, stable jobs that have been shielded from globalization. America’s middle class won’t welcome this new competition, and a wall on the southern border won’t stop them.
Telemigration is growing at an explosive pace. Employers find these workers convenient and flexible as well as low cost. These talented foreigners are happy to work for much less than American workers with the same skills since they live in countries where $5 an hour will buy a middle-class lifestyle.
They aren’t covered by the same labor laws, or health, safety, or environmental regulations. They don’t ask for severance pay, paid holidays and maternity or paternity leave. Nor do they contribute to Social Security, help pay for medical insurance, pensions, or any other advanced economy social policies.
What sort of jobs do today’s telemigrants do? Upwork, one of several online freelancing platforms and the one used by Hathersage to hire workers, has posted over 8 million jobs just for web development. The number who applied for those jobs far outstrips the work, as this chart shows[1]....
