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.
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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?]
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"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].

- posted by Cynthia @ 2:58 PM | | | Link |