Perhaps I speak only for myself, but those of us "web designers" with technical skills in excess of MS Frontpage are finding plenty of work. The tighter market has certainly reduced the number of WYSIWYG-editor-only "gurus" out there. Of course the number of salaried positions being offered for the technically-enabled, especially in the application service provider sector has decreased drastically. The increase in layoffs has, however, created plenty of corporate-sponsored project-based work for those of us who are self-employed.
In my neck of the northern midwest, the trend in IT is to layoff the expensive, more experienced staff and hire multiple less-experienced bodies on a part-time basis to replace them. If employees work less than 32 hours per week, companies aren't required to provide benefits. And because these new employees are inexperienced, they'll work for pathetically low hourly rates. As the goal of the inexperienced is to gain the knowledge required to position themselves for better job opportunities, they tend to be less of a flight-risk than a more experienced staff member working at a low salary might be.
To be perfectly honest, I don't worry about my prospective jobs and project work going overseas or to H1Bs. Why? As a self-employed person I am able to make myself competitive within the marketplace through being efficient, keeping my overhead low, rates competitive, and work quality, value and customer service-levels very high.
But this isn't possible for corporate entities in the U.S, who are unable to remain competitive due to high overhead. Staff-costs such as salaries and healthcare benefits are the two largest expenses companies must cover while still maintaining a profit margin. Additionally, overall decreases in salary gains are reducing consumer spending, which in turn limits corporate expansion, innovation, and the creation of new jobs.
I think a really big key to solving the problem of overseas work farming is lowering corporate overhead in order for US companies to be able to remain competitive - which in turn means lowering salaries across the board and drastically reducing both healthcare and healthcare insurance costs. We're already seeing the salary decreases.. I wonder how long politicians will continue wandering around, wringing their hands over healthcare reform.
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Perhaps I speak only for myself, but those of us "web designers" with technical skills in excess of MS Frontpage are finding plenty of work. The tighter market has certainly reduced the number of WYSIWYG-editor-only "gurus" out there. Of course the number of salaried positions being offered for the technically-enabled, especially in the application service provider sector has decreased drastically. The increase in layoffs has, however, created plenty of corporate-sponsored project-based work for those of us who are self-employed.
In my neck of the northern midwest, the trend in IT is to layoff the expensive, more experienced staff and hire multiple less-experienced bodies on a part-time basis to replace them. If employees work less than 32 hours per week, companies aren't required to provide benefits. And because these new employees are inexperienced, they'll work for pathetically low hourly rates. As the goal of the inexperienced is to gain the knowledge required to position themselves for better job opportunities, they tend to be less of a flight-risk than a more experienced staff member working at a low salary might be.
To be perfectly honest, I don't worry about my prospective jobs and project work going overseas or to H1Bs. Why? As a self-employed person I am able to make myself competitive within the marketplace through being efficient, keeping my overhead low, rates competitive, and work quality, value and customer service-levels very high.
But this isn't possible for corporate entities in the U.S, who are unable to remain competitive due to high overhead. Staff-costs such as salaries and healthcare benefits are the two largest expenses companies must cover while still maintaining a profit margin. Additionally, overall decreases in salary gains are reducing consumer spending, which in turn limits corporate expansion, innovation, and the creation of new jobs.
I think a really big key to solving the problem of overseas work farming is lowering corporate overhead in order for US companies to be able to remain competitive - which in turn means lowering salaries across the board and drastically reducing both healthcare and healthcare insurance costs. We're already seeing the salary decreases.. I wonder how long politicians will continue wandering around, wringing their hands over healthcare reform.