Posted on 09/30/2005 11:54:00 AM PDT by SirLinksalot
Hmmm... If 10 programmers lose their jobs to 50 programmers in India and the Philippines, Maybe we can re-train all 10 to be project managers ??? But who are they going to manage ?
And if you happen to be in your 50's (10 years off from retirement age) and lost your software programming position, I wonder what course you should take to "retrain" yourself...
And for those without the ability or means to go to college, a blue collar job that can actually support a family, as much of the older manufacturing jobs could, is now increasingly rare.
I've personally wondered if more manufacturing will come back onshore as the cost of transporting goods back and forth across the oceans increases, because of the cost of oil....
No, they have moved to China and India too. Ask Google, GE, and Microsoft.
No cheers, unfortunately.
Full Disclosure: Much of the third world is rife with other problems such as cronyism, pretending to work, and horrible quality and processes. So if you can't provide a solution, there's good money to be made in QA, cleaning up after them.
I love these stories trying to convince us that bad things are actually good, that up is white, that black is thursday!
I bet the author of this piece cannot even balance his own checkbook.
An excellent example of the worth of economists.
You hit it. No one within ten years of retirement should have to ask themselves could they be laid off. By this time they should be an indespensible leader in what they do because they have 40 years or so of experience and training behind them. In fact when they do retire, their company should offer to take them back with improvements to their working conditions and salary.
If you are within ten years of retirement and the above does not describe you, get some more training fast, you are not likely to have your position for long.
" In 1820, for example, 70% of American workers were in agriculture; today 2% are. If all those workers had remained tilling the land, America would now be a lot poorer"
DUH.......you mean in 1820, they were farming and not building Corvettes and computers??
What the economist did not mention is, how nice those people are who taking these manufacturing jobs off our hands. They are nice enough to lend back to us all the money we are sending out of the country for the production of these goods that we stilll need and use but do not manufacture here.
It's amazing what a bunch of whiners there in this thread.
"Stop the economy, I want to get off!"
So true, and now one person can do the work of ten, thanks to automation. Whether that's an entirely positive thing depends if you're the one remaining worker or the nine laid off. I know it's a positive thing to upper management.
I know that there is a growing trend for corporations -- largely in highly complex technology or health fields -- to establish programs that entice older or retired experts back to work.
They are not well publicized, and there are discrimination laws that need to change before this practice can become widespread.
Business need the older, more experienced talent, and many have an interest in keeping the organizational wisdom that these workers often own almost exclusively.
I think unemployment is caused by an entrepreneurship deficit. And, it is apparent in IT, where men like my brother worked as a high paid systems analyst in several countries while Indian entrepreneurs built companies in Silicon valley and then wanted to and have hired Indians. By contrast, my son is a young programmer and says that his associates take a dim view of outsourcing. Nobody is owed a job, obviously. Jobs are created by people who start and run businesses.
What the author of this article doesn't mention is that the primary factor in the "loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs" has nothing to do with outsourcing, labor costs, automation, productivity, etc.
The single biggest reason for all of these "lost jobs" has been the manner in which these jobs are counted. U.S. employment by economic sector has traditionally been listed according to the NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) classification of the employer, not the type of employment. General Motors, for example, is considered an auto manufacturer -- so all of their employees at any given location were classified as "manufacturing employees" regardless of their job function.
So if General Motors decided one day to lay off all their accountants and hire an outside accounting firm instead, these accounting jobs were magically transformed from "manufacturing" to "service" jobs -- even if the accounting firm hired all of the former GM accountants to do the work.
Jeez... what a bunch of closet libs, what a bunch of union sympathizers!!!!
Conservative Economics 101:
1. In order for an economy to function properly, those who can produce a better product for less money need to be doing it.
2. While governments can subsidize goods by protecting it from competition, or giving tax breaks or keeping the exchange rate low, this policy isn't sustainable. Remember Japan, who did all of the above? Their economy boom is soooooo 80's (and hasn't been seen since).
3. There is a difference between a job being obsoleted due to technology changes and being outsourced. This author talks about both, and the rants confuse the two. Some auto jobs went to Mexico and Korea, but most were phased out as technologies made robots cheaper, and new cars last longer.
4. There are some jobs that we don't want. Tech support jobs are outsourced to India, but as in the USA they are wretched jobs (I did it for one year and know first-hand) and the Indian recruiters can't fill those spots either. Have you ever been yelled at by a person with a Ph.D who can't figure out how to connect their mouse? I have.
5. There is a difference between having to change jobs, or careers, and being consigned to the economic dustheap. In the case of programmers, everyone knows that the demand for programmers goes through boom and bust cycles. It might be scarier for a 50 year old to retrain and relocate, but this is the reality of many professions.
6. All of you closet commies who say things like "no one in their 50's should have to worry about losing their job" should remember that France, Spain, and Portugal have such labor laws... and those aren't exactly the economies that we're worried about. Cuba and North Korea also have economies where people don't have to worry about life after 50 either.
"And if you happen to be in your 50's (10 years off from retirement age) and lost your software programming position, I wonder what course you should take to "retrain" yourself..."
Never make yourself dependent upon a stranger for employment...
mark to read later
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