race to the bottom

race to the bottom

A situation in which striving to have the lowest possible prices in order to attract the highest number of customers also drives down standards of the product or service, worsens conditions for workers in the industry, and ultimately leads to problems for everyone. Economists worry that deregulation will lead to a race to the bottom in the industry, costing hundreds of thousands of people jobs as companies rush to cut costs and maximize profits.
See also: bottom, race
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a/the ˌrace to the ˈbottom

(business) the idea that economic competition will lead to lower standards, worse conditions for workers, and workers in some countries losing their jobs to lower-paid workers in other countries: They fear that globalization only creates a race to the bottom.
See also: bottom, race
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • a/the race to the bottom
  • white-van man
  • get (one's) eye
  • get eye Go to catch
  • catch (one's) eye
  • catch eye
  • catch somebody's eye
  • catch someone's eye
  • strive toward
  • strive toward (something)
References in periodicals archive
Summary: New Delhi (India), Aug 6 (ANI): Former Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said Congress would pay heavily for opposing measures to end special status to Jammu and Kashmir, saying the leadership of the party, which he referred to as "headless chicken", was determined to succeed in its race to the bottom.
add to that, the amount of low-skilled labour coming here is simply a classic sign of a race to the bottom - ie, low-paid, unskilled jobs.
A Global Race to the Bottom has ensued, a Race rolling back welfare protection and even subverting basic labor rights.
Continue reading "Why the Upcoming Israeli Rematch Elections Are a Race to the Bottom" at...
#SHOULDHAVEMOVEDTOBRISTOL Mr Evans We are suffering financially and environmentally because we are trying to compete in a race to the bottom with the rest of the world.
Brown will add of Farage: "To the next prime minister, and indeed to all candidates for the Tory leadership, I say you have a fundamental choice: to run against him or race to the bottom with him.
Gordon Brown will urge Tory leadership hopefuls to reject Nigel Farage's "toxic them-versus-us nationalism", warning that otherwise they will join a race to the bottom.
This is not a beauty pageant, but an ugly race to the bottom that will leave the country poorer, meaner and more unequal.
They exist in a larger context where insurance companies, insurance professionals, and insurance consumers are involved in a race to the bottom.
However, if we have a Conservative government or a neo-liberal Labour government, like the Blair/Brown administration, which had 13 years to invest in its North East heartlands but signally failed to do so, then the sell-off of the NHS to the Americans will continue, as will the globalised race to the bottom in all other areas, whilst the rich become richer and, as we have seen this weekend, more immune from paying their fair share of taxes for the stability and convenience they enjoy, provided almost free by the British working people.
For years, multinational corporations have encouraged a race to the bottom, telling each country that it must lower its taxes below that of its competitors.
It's a strange sort of subjugation that: | permits freedom to live, work and play in its territory; | provides reciprocal health care to its travelling citizens; | prevents a race to the bottom in such things as environmental and worker protection; | avoids pork barrel politics in regional development; | and finances student mobility.
A new set of performance targets for firefighters could create a 'race to the bottom', bosses have been warned.
Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer of Microsoft, which competes with Facebook (FB), Google (GOOG, GOOGL) and Amazon (AMZN) in the emerging market for facial-recognition products, argued that delays to enacting new rules could "exacerbate societal issues" and said society is ill-served "by a commercial race to the bottom, with tech companies forced to choose between social responsibility and market success." [Reference Link]:[https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-pushes-urgency-of-regulating-facial-recognition-technology-1544129253]