The Great American Job Sellout

Americans are being sold out on the jobs front. Americans' employment opportunities are declining as a result of corporate outsourcing of US jobs, H-1B visas that import foreigners to displace Americans in their own country, and federal guest worker programs

President Bush and his Republican majority intend to legalize the aliens who hold down wages for construction companies and cleaning services. In order to stretch budgets, state and local governments bring in lower paid foreign nurses and school teachers. To reduce costs, US corporations outsource jobs abroad and use work visa programs to import foreign engineers and programmers. The American job give away is explained by a "shortage" of Americans to take the jobs.

There are not too many Americans willing to accept the pay and working conditions of migrant farm workers. However, the US is bursting at the seams with unemployed computer engineers and well-educated professionals who are displaced by outsourcing and H-1B visas. During Bush's entire first term, there was a net loss of American private sector jobs. Today there are 760,000 fewer private sector jobs in the US economy than when Bush was first inaugurated in January 2001.

For years the hallmark of the European economy was its inability to create any jobs other than government jobs. America has caught up with Europe. During Bush's first term, state and local government created 879,000 new government jobs. Offsetting these government jobs against the net loss in private sector jobs gives Bush a four-year jobs growth of 119,000 government jobs. Comparing this pathetic result to normal performance produces a shortage of 8 million US jobs. What happened to these jobs?

Over these same four years the composition of US jobs has changed from higher-paid manufacturing and information technology jobs to lower-paid domestic services. Why?

During this extraordinary breakdown in the American employment machine, politicians, government officials, corporate spokespersons, and "free trade" economists gave assurances that America was benefitting greatly from the work visa programs and outsourcing.

The mindless chatter continues. Just the other day Ambassador David Gross, US Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy in the State Department, declared outsourcing to be an economic efficiency that works to America's benefit. There is no sign of this alleged benefit in US jobs statistics or the US balance of trade.

Repeatedly and incorrectly, US corporations state that outsourcing creates more US jobs. They even convinced a New York Times columnist that this was the case.

The problem is, no one can identify where the US jobs are that outsourcing allegedly creates. They are certainly not to be found in the BLS jobs statistics. However, the Indian and Chinese jobs created by US outsourcing are highly visible.

On February 13, the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News reported that jobs outsourcing is transforming Indian "cities like Bangalore from sleepy little backwaters into the New York Cities of Asia." In a very short period outsourcing has helped to raise India from one of the world's poorest countries to its seventh largest economy.

Outsourcing proponents claim that US job loss is being exaggerated, that outsourcing is really just a small thing involving a few call centers. If that is the case, how is it transforming sleepy Indian cities into "the New York Cities of Asia"? If outsourcing is no big deal, why are Bangalore hotel rooms "packed with foreigners paying rates higher than in Tokyo or London," as the Dayton Daily News reports?

If outsourcing is of no real consequence, why are American lawyers or their clients paying $2,900 in fees plus hotel and travel expenses and two days' billings to attend the Fourth National Conference on Outsourcing in Financial Services in Washington DC (April 20-21)?

On the jobs front, as on the war front, the social security front and every other front, Americans are not being given the truth. Americans' news comes from people allied with the Bush administration or dependent on revenues from corporate advertisers. Displease the government or advertisers and your media empire is in trouble. The news most Americans get is filtered. It is the permitted news. Many "free trade" advocates also are dependent on the corporate money that funds their salaries, research and think tanks.

Another clear indication that outsourcing of US jobs is no small thing comes from the reported earnings of the leading Indian corporations that provide American firms with outsourced IT employees and engineers. During the recent quarter, Infosys' revenues increased by 53%, TCS grew by 38%, and Wipro was up 34%.

On January 1, 2001, Cincinnati-based Convergys Corp had one Indian employee. Today it has 10,000. Why? Because it can hire Indian university graduates for $240 a month, a sum that is a small fraction of the US poverty level income.

Many Americans think that an outsourced job is an existing job that is moved offshore. But many outsourced jobs are created offshore in the first place. On February 11, USA Today told the story of OfficeTiger, "the sort of young technology company that once created thousands of high-paying jobs in the USA, fueling sizzling economic growth." The five-year old startup business employs 200 Americans and ten times that number of Indians. The company has plans for hiring many more Indians to perform "tech-heavy financial services."

Under pressure from venture capitalists who fund new companies, American startup firms are starting up abroad. Thus, the new ventures, which "free trade" economists assured us would create new jobs to take the place of the ones moved offshore by mature firms, are in fact creating jobs for foreigners.

As a consequence, tech jobs in the US are falling as a percentage of the total. Clearly, tax breaks for venture capitalists are self-defeating when the result is to create jobs for foreigners, not for Americans. Why should the American taxpayer subsidize employment in India and China?

These developments have obvious adverse implications for engineering and professional education in America. The BLS jobs forecast for the next ten years says the vast majority of US jobs will not require a college education. University enrollments will decline and so will the production of PhDs as fewer professors are needed.

As India and China rise to first world status, the US falls to third world status where the only jobs are in domestic services.

This has enormous implications for the US balance of payments. Americans' consumption of manufactured goods is heavily dependent on foreign manufacture, whether that of foreign firms or that of US multinational firms that supply their American customers from offshore. How does an economy in which employment growth is concentrated in nontradable domestic services pay for its imports with exports?

Since 1990 the US has been paying for its imports by giving foreigners ownership of its assets. In the last 15 years foreigners have accumulated $3.6 trillion of America's wealth.

America has been able to pay for its consumption by giving up its wealth because the dollar is the world's reserve currency. As America's high-tech and manufacturing capabilities decline and its red ink rises, the dollar's role as reserve currency must end.

When the dollar loses its reserve currency role, America will not be able to pay for the imports on which it has become dependent. Shopping in Wal-Mart will be like shopping at Neiman Marcus.

Until recent years, US companies employed Americans to produce the goods that Americans consumed. Employment supported sales, and sales supported employment. No more. By their shortsighted policy of moving US jobs abroad, our corporations are destroying their American markets.

Economists give assurances that the dollar's decline and fall will bring jobs and industry back to the US. Once Americans are as poor as Indians and Chinese are today, the process will reverse. Multinational corporations will locate in America to take advantage of cheap labor and unserved markets. By becoming poor, the US can become rich again.

You might want to ask the economists and our "leaders" in Washington why we should put ourselves and our descendants through such a wrenching process."

Been there, done that... I applied for one job after college in 1990 with one company. I sent in my resume and they sent back like a 10 page application, BTW, this is a private sector job. I look through the application and several pages were with questions such as "Tell us how wonderful it would be to work for XXXX company ?" They would want a whole essay. On the application with the question, they mentioned they wanted the "response" to be written on the form, no separate sheet of paper !

I did not have time for that bull$h!t aand I wondered what kind of bull$h!t I would have to go through to keep my job there. The application went into the trash can ! This was during the 1990 recession. At the time, I talked to this guy who use to clean my parent's house and he told me about the time - the 1950's and early 1960's, it was pretty easy to find a job. You didn't have to go through hoops like what was mentioned. If you got fed up with a given job, you can quit and then go out a week later and go job hunting and come home with several offers.

Then the employer comes up with other ridiculous hoops, such as personality tests.

Lawyers and hack politicians seem immune to insourcing (low priced immigrants) and outsourcing"""

Some legal work may be headed for outsourcing, or insourcing. If that happens, the lawyers will start screaming, too.

I won't buy a Chinese car or motorcycle. I seen Chinese motorcycles at a motorcycle store. I won't buy one ! I don't want my earnings to go to the Chinese who will use it to make rope that will be used to hang us.

New reports say a wave of Chinese automobiles will be hitting our shores. Under pricing the Koreans, Japanese and our own cheaper builds. Do you honestly think a non-union US autoworker can compete with ChiCom workers being paid ChiCom wages?

Wrong. "Some experience desired but not necessary" is in almost every ad we put out, except manager openings which I have one right now.

I'll take any motivated, clean, well spoken, male or female, high school grad and train them internally at first and through mfr schools as they progress, (they are not applying). My data techs have MCSE, CCNA, CCDA, and more all paid for by our company.

We provide 60% of Health and Dental, wage spans are mentioned down thread.

right now in America the employment situtation is much better than average"""

I don't claim to be an expert on any of this, but does the author- Robers - dispute what you say? Isn't he talking about the KIND of jobs that America is creating - not the number? A big proportion, according to his article, are GOVERNMENT jobs (meaning non-productive, and paid for by you and mean through higher taxes), and of those in the private sector, fewer - according to his article - are high-end, high-skilled than in the past. Simply talking about the NUMBER of jobs doesn't counter his argument. I'd like to see someone address what he actually says.

"Some legal work may be headed for outsourcing, or insourcing."

Hmmm interesting concept, I could get behind an all out effort to outsource 100% of Lawyer jobs.

On a related note how does one "chase ambulances" from a continent away?

My point is that no member of any civilized society is free, every society places restrictions on it's members. The United States is somewhat unique in that it applies the law (in theory) equally to all members of society without regard to class, race or religion.Certain rights are garenteed by our Constitution but we are by no means a nation of free peoples. I also own a business and I can assure you the weight of laws and regulations is overwhelming.

Busted again. I really hope to know as much as that poster someday. I bet that that person is either unemployed or underemployed due to the man keeping him or her down.

If I got fired tomorrow, (please please please), I'd be in a decent job in 24-72 hours. My stubborness keeps me here to try to ride out this temporary shortage of resources. But I have put a deadline. June 2005.

Quote: BTW what was the latest Starvation numbers in the USA? The bodies must really be piling up now based on you guys ramblings of doom and gloom

Through lower offshore wages and products we are in the short term o.k.. The market demands we be catching up with us. Our prosperity is at this time artificial. The long term ramifications is what bothers me.

Name me one company that can buy 3/4 more than what they are selling????

"same as the EUro-socialists who bring in millions of Muslims"

During the cold war, didn't the W. Germans allow Turks to come to live in W. Germany because they had a shortage of workers?

Then, when the wall fell and E. and W. Germany reunified, there were now lots of former E. Germans who needed work and the Turks decided to stay and the Germans tried to kick them out? I have no idea how that whole situation has turned out.

My point is that no member of any civilized society is free,

Unfortunately, freedom does not exist.

every society places restrictions on it's members.

Rightfully so. Restrictions on the violation of other's rights is proper and necessary. There is no right to violate others' rights.

I never said this country is free. It is not.

I said it was supposed to be that way.

The real question is the same as always, "what is the proper role of government in a free society".

Some think it's to violate the rights of some to benefit others. It's not.

I almost feel guilty for getting paid to do what I love.Almost...:D

The ironic thing is this,the union workers in my area balk at my prices.(I have lots to cover like insurance,licenses,certifications,etc.,,)They're the first ones to say,"Never mind,I'll get a Mexican to do it".Who'd a thunk it?So,now I market towards white collar professionals like business owners,doctors,lawyers,etc.,,

It's not all peaches though.Alot of my competition can undercut me by hiring illegals,not having insurance,no required certifications,etc.,,Just had to learn to suck it up and take what comes my way.

" Find something else to do, move, go to China and work for 25 cents."

Is it not one of the purposes of government to protect me from foreign nations? Why should I be forced into poverty by being forced to compete with labor rates that would be illegal in the USA?

I am working 12 hours at the office or running service tickets when we get overloaded. I am backing up the one Cust Svc rep, doing the schedule and adjusting it all day long, and when my 6 techs get covered up I am toting my tool bag. In addition I do my job, I do jobsite surveys, manage the trainers, manage the project managers, make coffee, make joint customer visits with 4 sales people, and handle emergency calls at night 1 week every 7 weeks.

Oh, I see what your problem is. It's so obvious. You've got too much time on your hands ;-)

How dare you suceed while others are failing?

Don't you know that if you are doing well you have no business addressing this issue?

That's the crap a few of these folks have been selling here.

I should be living as well as these novelists think I am. Me and my gated community......

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