document.writeln("
A.T.Kearney
study: Anti-offshoring legislation will hurt Silicon Valley
New
York, USA: The shift of work to lower-wage countries
is just one of a number of global forces affecting job
creation and loss in the region and efforts to prevent
offshoring will not succeed, a study, sponsored by Joint
Venture: Silicon Valley Network, Bay Area Economic Forum
and Stanford Project on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship,
said. Any legislation designed to slow or stop it would
ultimately hurt the technology-heavy Bay Area region.
The
study, titled 'The future of Bay Area jobs, the impact
of offshoring and other key trends', was conducted by
management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, which based it
on 120 interviews, analysis of 9,000 job listings and
other data. Sean Randolph, CEO of the Bay Area Economic
Forum, said that instead of fretting about off shoring
business political leaders must focus on preserving the
Bay Area's genius at innovation or they will risk the
region's job base.
According to the study, the Bay Area, which includes the
Silicon Valley, is one of the most globalised regional
economies in the United States and has more experience
with offshoring than other parts in the country. It found
that 94 per cent of companies in the semiconductor and
software industries use overseas resources, compared with
66 per cent of US companies across a broad spectrum of
industries. At the same time Bay Area manufacturers earn
almost 60 per cent of their revenue in overseas markets,
the study found.
And
California, including the Bay Area, leads in "in-
sourced" jobs created by US subsidiaries of foreign
companies, with almost 700,000. "A job created in
India is not necessarily a job lost here," said Randolph,
adding that there is a complex pattern where improvements
in business competitiveness can lead to new job creation
here. In addition, the study found that offshoring hasn't
squashed job creation here. Semiconductor firms reported
that 38 per cent of their jobs were in the Bay Area, 33
per cent in the rest of America, for a total of 71 per
cent in the US. About 13 per cent were for jobs in India,
11 per cent in China and five per cent in other countries.
Software firms had 29 per cent of their job opening in
the Bay Area, 37 per cent in the rest of the US, nine
per cent each in India and China, and 16 per cent in the
rest of the world.
Back
to News Review index page
Bush
and Kerry will do the Latino samba
Los Angeles, USA: The Latino vote has made its
transition, from being politically powerless, to becoming
one of the largest and most sought after constituencies
in the USA. Recognized as the fastest growing ethnic group
in registration and voting, Latinos are the focus of outreach
efforts by both major political parties who recognize
that in order to be elected, the Latino vote must be a
part of their strategy.
"Thirty years ago, the Latino community did not play
a role in deciding who would be elected president,"
said Antonio Gonzalez, Southwest Voter Registration Education
Project (SVREP) President. "Today, both presidential
campaigns have started early media campaigns in battleground
states targeting Latinos because they know that, with
10 million registered voters, we will help decide who
wins in November." For
the 2004 presidential election, SVREP, a national non-partisan
nonprofit organization, intends to mount a very aggressive
voter registration effort, expecting to grow the Latino
voter rolls by more than a quarter of a million voters
in battleground states through its multiple voter registration
projects.
"This is a critical election year and Southwest Voter
has mobilized tens of thousands of Latinos to participate
in it," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria
Molina. "We fully intend to hold both campaigns accountable
for their promises to the Latino community. Neither party
should take us for granted and both parties will have
to offer us a place at the table if they want our support."
SVREP was established in 1974 by the late Willie Velasquez
to encourage civic and political participation in Latino
and other underrepresented communities.
Back
to News Review index page
DGA
report: Top 40 prime time TV programmes lack diversity
in directors
Los
Angeles, USA: The Directors Guild of America today
released a report on the employment of women and minority
directors by television networks on the "top 40"
prime time drama and comedy series in 2003-2004. The report
shows that Caucasian males directed 86 percent of the
episodes, and that women and minority directors continue
to be missing from some of the best-known series line-ups.
In the most recent 2003-2004 season, 15 of the top 40
shows have not hired women directors, 10 have not hired
minority directors, and six have excluded both women and
minority directors.
"The report reveals that producers and networks have
failed to fulfill their contractual good faith obligation
to hire more women and minority directors," said
Michael Apted, DGA President and Chair of DGA Diversity
Task Force. "For many years we have publicized the
hiring records of the top 40 shows, challenging the industry
to open up employment opportunities, but all too often
the producers' and the networks' commitment to diversity
is simply not there."
The DGA has been tracking entertainment industry hiring
practices for many years, and four years ago started singling
out the top 40 prime time drama and comedy television
series. This year's top 40 report shows that of the 865
total episodes in 2003-2004, Caucasian males directed
741 (86%); women directed 60 (7%); African Americans,
49 (6%); Latinos, 16 (2%); and Asian Americans directed
only 10 episodes (1%).
Following
are some of the most egregious examples of the exclusion
of women and minority directors in top 40 prime time series
for the 2003-2004 season:
The following shows have demonstrated a four-year pattern
of zero or minimal efforts in hiring women and/or minority
directors:
- "Everybody
Loves Raymond" (CBS/Talk Productions) has not hired
a woman director for any of its 96 episodes over the
past four seasons. The show hired no minority directors
this season; and hired minorities to direct only three
out of 96 episodes in the past four seasons.
- "Friends"
(NBC/Warner Bros.) did not hire a woman director for
any of the 92 episodes in its final four seasons. The
show hired no minority directors this season, and only
one minority director, who directed three out of 92
episodes, in the past four seasons.
- "JAG"
(CBS/Paramount Pictures Corp.) has not hired a woman
director for any of its 99 episodes in the past four
seasons. The show hired minority directors for only
four out of 99 episodes in the past four seasons.
- "CSI"
(CBS/CBS Broadcasting) hired no women directors in the
2003-04 season, and only one woman to direct one of
92 episodes in the past four seasons. The show hired
minorities to direct only three of 92 episodes in the
past four seasons.
- "Malcolm
in the Middle" (FOX/Regency TV Productions) has
not hired a minority director for any of its 90 episodes
over the past four seasons. The show hired no women
directors this season with only four of its 90 episodes
over the past four seasons being directed by women.
While
employment opportunities for women and minorities on these
top 40 prime time television series were dismal overall,
the following shows have shown a good faith effort in
their hiring of directors during the recent 2003-2004
season:
- "Cold
Case" (CBS/Warner Bros.) hired women and minorities
to direct eight out of 21 episodes (38%).
- "The
Practice" (ABC/Kelley Productions) hired women
and minorities to direct eight out of 23 episodes (35%).
And there are three series that have defied the networks'
trends for the past four seasons:
- "Third
Watch" (NBC/Warner Bros.) hired women and minorities
to direct 40 out of 97 total episodes (41%) over the
past four seasons.
- "Frasier"
(NBC/Paramount) hired women and minorities to direct
28 out of 73 total episodes (38%) over the past four
seasons.
- "ER"
(NBC/Warner Bros.) hired women and minorities to direct
21 out of 81 total episodes (26%) over the past four
seasons.
Both
"Third Watch" and "ER" are executive
produced by John Wells, whose efforts toward increased
diversity are second to none. Wells created and runs the
John Wells Mentor Program, which trains three minority
and/or women directors per season, providing each with
a stipend of $100,000. The money comes from Warner Bros.
as part of a discretionary fund which John Wells controls
and chooses to use for this highly successful program.
Back
to News Review index page
