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Labor Department Downplays Offshoring
twitter writes "The New York Times is reporting the US Labor Department's first assessment of International Offshoring. The report claims that less than 3% of Q1 2004 jobs were lost to offshoring. Companies were asked if workers had been replaced and taken at their word. A Federal Reserve governor is also quoted as dissmissive. Estimates by Goldman Sachs are 20 times higher. Despite Washington's IP fetish, no one quoted is worried about the export of US research and knowhow. Your job and 830,000 others are gone."
It is not downplayed in India. BPO jobs: Devil in sheep's clothing? Call centres put Indian mores on the hook
If Teresa Heinz Kerry were actually an officer of HJ Heinz, she might hold some influence. She isn't, so she doesn't.
Ummm, she inherited that money and the Heinz name from her former husband, the late Senator John Heinz, a Republican. Also, she owns less than 4% of Heinz Co. stock and isn't even on the board. You can bet that her ex-hubbies Republican pals are on there though. Anyhow, I don't have anything against Republicans historically and was once one myself, it's the "new" far-right wing Republicanism that turned me off the party.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
State governments actually HAVE been outsourcing .
googl'd: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4450796/
Perhaps federal's safer?
Meanwhile, I'm comfortably ensconced in a US job offshored from Switzerland so I can't complain...
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
From CNBC yesterday in a story about this, the labor suveys ignore employeers with fewer than 50 employees, and also do not count layoffs of less than 50 people.
Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
The problem is that there is no way to make sure that companies that oursource actually pass those savings on to customers in the form of cheaper goods, or instead just give their ceos larger bonuses.
Sure there is. Its called competition. When a company finds a way to reduce costs, their first urge probably isn't to lower prices. But when a competitor who wants some of their market share sees that they can make money while selling the same thing cheaper, that's what they will do. The first company will then lower prices or watch the new competitor eat their lunch. That's the beauty of capitalism.
At least at the state level. Wasn't it Indiana that had offshored a computer system/call center associated with the unemployed?
Also, state governments often LIKE to outsource stuff to the private sector. The bureaucracy associated with a state run project is huge -- everything from labor rules to material acquisition, and with more states needing to do more work with less tax revenue, these projects often get pushed into the private sector.
Once in the hands of the private sector, there's often multiple layers of subcontracting that can involve offshoring. Somtimes it just seems like a giant shell game -- local business (with figurehead female minority ownership for easy contract grabs), pitches for state contract and then just subcontracts all the work out, skimming profits off the top and not really doing any work.
In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if some consultancies have won business by equating offshoring with minority hiring, which should REALLY piss off the people the minority hiring laws were supposed to help.
I am a recent graduate who found himself in a toilet when it came to getting a job. I have been working in the industry since my freshman year in college. By the time I graduated I had experiences with almost everything: from kernel development, to Java to PHP and system administration. Yet it took me forever to find a job. Now that I am gainfully employed I constantly wach out and see how I remain employed in the coastal United States. Here are my survival tips.
Look for a job where you can get into business-to-business relationships. When you deal with large companies, your job has a higher chance of staying in the States because companies like quality service. Dell was forced to bring its business customer support because managers did not enjoy talking to people who could not assit them in a reasonable manner. Moreover, once you get into B2B, you get to meet a lot of people; if you leave a good impression, some of them could help you out in the future.
If you are stuck with a job that involves receiving specifications over e-mail and then sending the code somewhere else, RUN. Unless you code something that is used for military of the government (meaning you have at least one level of clearance), you job is done. You must get out and do more things. I do not know what things you should do, but you must do something besides being a code monkey.
Learn how to do business; learn how to benefit your current employer or start your own shop. People do not create companies in order to employ more people. Businesses are here to make money. If you show your employers that you can benefit the company, they are likely to keep you closer.
Learn languages, cultures, and traditions. Improve your communication skills and presentability. Being flexible in the global economy is very important. I got my first job only becuase I was the only applicant who spoke fluent foreign language. I could talk and relate to our development team, something that other candidates could not offer. Based on my previous experience, I am going for one more foreign language, my fourth. Staying neatly groomed and socializing with your co-workers helps as well. I would not want to employ a person who is not welcome by the rest of my crew.
I followed these rules and, fortunately, I was able to find different jobs even during the recession. Also, remember whatever does not kill you, makes you stronger. Learn from other peoples' mistakes and do not forget to do so from yours.
The entire steel industry hasn't moved overseas. The US still produces about 100 million tons of steel every year, approximately 12% of the world total, and relatively close to the alltime high (135 million in 1953?). China, a much larger country with less regulation (think safety and health), only produces about 200 million tons a year.
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The loss of jobs is due to improved efficiency, unions pricing themselves out of the market, and low demand. It's quite difficult to compete with nations having cheaper workforces, but that's how capitalism is supposed to work. In the second reference below, it is stated the world uses 100 million tons less than it produces. Low demand means lower prices meaning fewer jobs.
http://www.freetrade.org/pubs/speeches/ct-dg022
http://www.useu.be/Categories/Trade/Dec070
"The area of penetration will no doubt be sensitive." ~ Spock
More info here
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