“America needs factories, and America needs jobs.”
Great. I agree - America needs jobs. (It also needs to stop giving out disability benefits to everyone with joint discomfort, but that’s another story.)
I’ll tell you what: go start a call center firm like, say, Infocision (whose services my company has contracted in the past). Report back to me on...
1) The quality of resources you are able to hire for the hourly rate you are willing to pay
2) The ease at which you win contracts while paying a rate that actually attracts employees
3) Your profitability - or more likely, stunning lack thereof
I’m guessing you are not a principle or executive in a publicly traded company. I’m guessing you don’t have a responsibility to employ large numbers of people. I’m also guessing you have never had to make trade-offs to keep some very good people employed.
You are speaking philosophically, not practically. As an executive, I recognize the value of outsourcing. Here’s what I tell my American employees:
Outsourcing means job security for the full time staff. Why? Because I choose to meet variable capacity demands through contract - often offshore - labor. This keeps costs low so I can continue to employ my full timers, who are great. Moreover, when the variable capacity need wanes, I let the contractors go first instead of firing full timers. If I filled the variable need with full timers, I would have to lay off full timers when the time comes. Oh, and, by the way, this isn’t a tenured position - I’d lay off whoever I thought was doing the best job at that time, not who had been there the longest.
They tend to appreciate that. Contract labor comes and goes. My employees stay. I keep costs low and the business is successful. Stockholders win. My highly talented staff wins. Everyone wins.
Let me know when you actually have to make these kinds of decisions instead of just complaining about them.
Good post.
I am simply providing a view of the other side, of the coin.
America has been outsourcing ever more American businesses, for over an entire generation now.
America now is 17 trillion dollars in debt. And growing.
That impacts everything in America. Including importantly, our very own military superiority.
China now exports more than America does.
Quite a bit of that, comes right back to America.
I am just pointing out, that this new reality has very adversely impacted America’s financial health.
I from my own standpoint, think it is time to bring back American jobs.
Back here.
To America.