As to the companies involved in the practice of shifting work offshore, I expect their policies will change immediately when we get new congressional leadership. So only a few more mos.
LOL. Yeah, the Deanie coattails are going to sweep a host of new Dems into office and take both chambers back.
And what is it you think this "new" congress is going to do about "offshoring"?
BTW, you should read this:
It's tough to track jobs leaving the U.S.
Researchers baffled by lack of reliable data
By MARILYN GEEWAX
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ajc.com
Excerpt:
The most widely quoted source on offshoring is a 2002 study by Forrester Research Inc., a technology trend analysis firm. It projected that 3.3 million white-collar U.S. jobs will shift to low-wage countries by 2015.
But last August, McKinsey & Co., a global consulting firm, released a study suggesting the United States is gaining more than it is losing from offshoring.
The McKinsey study said offshoring is driven by dramatic improvements in telecommunications, which allow companies to transmit information over long distances at low costs, with minimal loss of quality.
It found that a U.S. company can send the work of a U.S. software developer earning $60 an hour to an equivalent employee in India or the Philippines for $6 an hour.
But the study said such job shifts help the U.S. economy because they can:
• Reduce costs, which lowers prices for consumers or boosts profits for investors.
• Create new revenue, as lower labor costs allow companies to offer new services that previously were too expensive.
• Move U.S. workers from relatively easy work, such as routine programming, to higher-value jobs.
The study concluded that "offshoring brings substantial benefits to the global economy, and the lion's share will likely go to the U.S. economy."
It's a classic issue of trade vs. protectionism, Lizzie. In spite of short-term disruptions, free trade raises our standard of living while protectionism lowers it.
You might also find this article edifying, assuming you wish to learn:
THE CASE FOR FREE TRADE
Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman
HOOVER DIGEST, 1997 No. 4
www-hoover.stanford.edu |
