The 2004 U.S. presidential election campaign focused on outsourcing to some degree. This debate did not center on problems of declining quality of customer services but on the threat to U.S. jobs and work. Democratic U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry blasted firms that outsource jobs abroad or that incorporate overseas in tax havens to avoid paying their fair share of U.S. taxes during his 2004 campaign, calling such firms "Benedict Arnold corporations," in reference to the infamous traitor Benedict Arnold. Criticism of outsourcing, from the perspective of U.S. citizens, by-and-large, revolves around the costs associated with transferring control of the labor process to an external entity in another country. A Zogby International poll reports that 71% of American voters believe that “outsourcing jobs overseas” hurts the economy and another 62% believe that the U.S. government should impose some legislative action against companies that transfer domestic jobs overseas, possibly in the form of increased taxes on companies that outsource. The poll of over 1,000 Americans was conducted in August 2004.[6]
Outsourcing appears to threaten the livelihood of domestic workers and, in the United States, the American Dream. This is especially true for high-tech workers who were promised the “jobs of tomorrow”- a phrase Bill Clinton iterated in 1994 to justify his conservative position on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Outsourcing appears to work contrary to the claim that “free trade” will create the “jobs of tomorrow” in America when high-tech or high paying white collar jobs are transferred to or created in foreign countries. Thus, outsourcing is representative of a specific historical moment where the United States government fails to mediate business-labor relations in a way conducive to prevailing values that places the American middle class worker as a central priority. At a more general level it represents a new threat to labor, contributing to rampant worker insecurity, and reflective of the general process of globalization culminating in Western societies as a whole.
In the UK, it is argued a malicious implementation of the Higher Education Role Analysis (HERA) may force Higher Education administrative and support staff to prematurely retire or seek for new employment in other organizations, thus freeing of staff many departments which could then be effectively outsourced. Outsourcing departments like Accounts, Payroll and Procurement is now common practice, as seen in August 2005 at the University of Portsmouth.
Policy solutions to outsourcing are also criticized. One solution often offered is retraining of domestic workers to new jobs. However, some of these workers are already highly educated and already possess a bachelor's and master's degree. Retraining to their current level in another field may not be an option due to years of study and cost of education involved. There is also little incentive given that the jobs in their new field could also be outsourced as well. Proportions of workers trained for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields fields in developing nations are viewed to outstrip traditional technology leaders such as the U.S. Thus jobs considered previously to be protected from international competition may not continue to be so.
[from wikipedia]
Yes, we've lost so many jobs that our unemployment rate jumped to 4.6%. LOL!
A Zogby International poll reports that 71% of American voters believe that “outsourcing jobs overseas” hurts the economy and another 62% believe that the U.S. government should impose some legislative action against companies that transfer domestic jobs overseas
Wow! A poll of people who believe (did I miss some facts in there?) that our economy ($10.67 trillion in 2Q04, $11.39 trillion in 2Q06, in chained 2000 dollars) is damaged by how many (did I miss some facts in there?) outsourced jobs?
Did this poll also ask them about astrology or their lucky numbers?
[from wikipedia]
FYI, serious people don't consider Wikipedia a serious source.