<$BlogRSDURL$>
Fresh Paint
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
 
Must Have Had a Lot of Botox...
...to write this story with a straight face...

Study: Outsourcing Tech Jobs Helps Economy
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Outsourcing white-collar jobs to low-wage countries such as India and China has thrown some Americans out of work, but a new report predicts that the trend will ultimately lower inflation, create jobs and boost productivity in the United States. [ed: And provide a cure for the common cold, too?]

The Information Technology Association of America, in a survey set for release Tuesday, acknowledges that the migration of tech jobs to low-paid foreigners has eliminated 104,000 American jobs so far, nearly 3 percent of the positions in the U.S. tech industry.
...
Software engineers have been particularly hard hit [ed: ie, me, in my larval stage]. Researchers at Global Insight Inc., which prepared the report for the ITAA, predicted that demand for U.S. software engineers would shrink through 2008. [ed: ie, the next election, so they can blame it on Kerry?]
...
"The myth is that we've started this long decline into the midnight of the technology work force," ITAA president Harris Miller said. "This report shows that, assuming the recovery continues, the number of IT jobs will actually increase."

Indian programmers earn roughly one-sixth the $60,000 U.S. average, and Chinese engineers earn even less.[ed: Come on my brothers and sisters in India and China! Rise up and demand what's due you!! A good wage plus benefits!! A clean environment!]

Outsourcing dramatically reduces labor costs, allowing companies to sell goods ranging from software to tax-preparation services at lower costs or higher profit margins. Greater profits theoretically allow companies to buy new equipment, build laboratories and conduct scientific experiments -- even in expensive Silicon Valley and other U.S. tech hubs.

Savings from outsourcing allowed companies to create 90,000 new jobs [ed: at McDonald's?] in 2003, with more than one in 10 of them in Silicon Valley or elsewhere in California, researchers said. The report predicts that in 2008, outsourcing will create 317,000 jobs -- 34,000 in California [ed: CA is getting too "blue" for the Rovians, I guess, so they had to dump this propaganda on us].

Up is down, black is white, peace is war, etc., healthy forests, etc., no child left behind, etc. I truly don't blame people living elsewhere for leaping up to take these jobs, since there are tons of (probably more, in fact) talented programmers elsewhere in the world these days. Ditto for factory workers, telemarketers, and whatever. I just find it despicable that companies know they can save money by exploiting poverty. I realize that ten thousand a year in India may be wonderful -- but $60,000 a year is better.

BTW, I've never known an American who was asked to re-locate overseas who was given a cut to $10,000 as a salary. Maybe we should start exporting CEOs.


--- Back to Main Page ---


Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Site Meter