Cary,
1. I think the data is not inflation adjusted but I would venture to guess that even after inflation adjustment it would show a positive gain in hourly wage rates but not as dramatic.
2. I agree that there are flaws in the study but I am not sure if they would change the conclusion of the study. For example, Sam's contention that contractor may have moved the jobs overseas and may not be included in the layoff due to offshoring statistics goes back to what consisted the sample which was surveyed. If the contractor himself was included in the study (e.g., EDS, IBM or Accenture) and they moved the work offshore, it would make its way into the statistics.
3. When I say software has been "commoditized", I mean the field is widely known and any excess "economic value" from that product has been wrung. I don't mean that software developers no longer require as much skill as before. In fact, I never thought that skill level required for most software jobs was that much higher to justify the wage rates they once commanded. That was an economic opportunity created by the "bubble" and is getting "wrung out" over time. In 1999/2000 period, computer professionals with 6 month diploma were drawing higher incomes that hard core engineering PhD in non-software related fields that did not make the software professionals any more skilled than other engineers. It was just economic opportunity and is getting erased due to bubble deflation.
5. "... US families have more, less expensive electronics, but many fewer have health care".
IMHO, this actually supports outsourcing as the electronics industry uses outsourcing heavily while health care industry does not. If health care was also outsourced heavily, more Americans would be able to afford it. Outsourcing in health care field could have been increased by:
a. Allowing foreign prescription drugs to enter US,
b. Allowing treatment of patients with expensive ailments abroad by the insurance carriers as well as by medicare.
{BTW, please somebody yell if we are getting too much off-topic here} |
