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India Will Need to Recruit 120,000 Foreigners

Posted by Zonk on from the importing-foreigners dept.

indi_jobs writes "After all the noise about jobs moving from Europe and USA to India, ZDNet India is reporting that 'India faces a massive shortage of workers with European language skills over the next five years which could see the country needing to recruit up to 120,000 foreigners...' Looks like the jobs may be moving to India but they might require the original people to do some of the jobs!" From the article: "Evalueserve said the ramping up of non-English speaking capability by the Indian offshore firms is an attempt to capture a larger share of the continental European outsourcing market, and reduce the country's high-risk exposure of more than 80 per cent of business coming from the UK and the U.S. economies."

4 of 453 comments (clear)

  1. Are Indian workers *that* much cheaper? by drunkennewfiemidget · · Score: 5, Insightful

    To attract new workers in India and people (as many as 120k) to India, wouldn't they need to offer better benefits, less taxes, higher pay, etc? At that point, wouldn't it make more sense to bring the work back to this side of the ocean?

    1. Re:Are Indian workers *that* much cheaper? by mgrassi99 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is the beginning of the great "equalization." It won't be long until Indian workers (and foreign workers in India) demand a standard of living that drives up their required salaries. Since the globalization scare began a couple years ago (actually, its been happened for decades), I've been saying it can't last for too long, now that we're all part of one global economy and not packetized in little closed-off sections of the world.

  2. English-speaking language skills in short supply by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    English-speaking language skills could also be in short supply.

    I find this hard to believe considering the proficiency in English I see evidenced in the average Indian help desk I've frequented. I'd venture to say some of them speak even more weller than some Slashdot editors.

  3. It's a question of exchange rates by mangu · · Score: 5, Insightful
    It won't be long until Indian workers (and foreign workers in India) demand a standard of living that drives up their required salaries.


    The technical people in India and other third-world countries already have a standard of living that's equal or above their counterparts in the USA and Europe. Their wages only seem so low because the money exchanges aren't linear.


    India, China, and other countries keep their exchange rates artificially low to increase their exports. This is made necessary mostly because the USA and Europe have heavy subsidies on agricultural products that compete with third-world exports. What's the point in subsidizing orange growth in Florida, if Brazil has perfect soil and climate for growing oranges, while Florida is only marginally adequate for oranges? Why does Europe grow sugar beets if sugar cane produces sugar at much lower costs?


    In order for less industrialized countries to compete with the agricultural products which make most of their economy, they must lower prices by depressing the exchange rates.


    If you are an unemployed engineer in the USA, blame not the CEO who follows a sane economic policy. Blame the farmers and their lobbyists.