U.S. college grads see jobs being taken abroad

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 8/22/03 | ROWLAND NETHAWAY

[optimistically_conservative]

The future of American workers, if they are lucky enough to land a job, lies with multinational companies that rely heavily on foreign labor.

It's too late to worry about losing U.S. manufacturing jobs to Mexico as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Mexico's workers now are in a panic over losing their NAFTA-generated manufacturing jobs to China, the world's new global manufacturing center.

America's white-collar workers should not feel too smug. They can be replaced by cheaper foreign workers. That process is under way.

Foreign colleges, particularly in India and other Asian nations, are turning out graduates who have dedicated their lives to achieving the highest attainable levels of academic learning with the goal of landing a job either in the United States or with a U.S. company. Their efforts are paying off.

Only the healthiest Americans will have missed the growing number of foreign doctors now helping staff the nation's hospitals.

America's high-tech industries are hiring more and more foreign workers to write computer programs, design electronics and run research and development projects. And these are jobs in the United States that normally would go to skilled American workers with college degrees.

More and more technical support jobs for American companies now are located overseas.

A recent USA Today article by Michelle Kessler and Stephanie Armour reported that jobs done by accountants, financial analysts, home loan processors, claims adjusters, architectural drafters and many others now are being done by inexpensive workers in foreign countries.

"These include high-paying, highly sought-after jobs that often require advanced degrees and years of study to attain," said the Kessler-Armour article. "But instead of paying six-figure salaries to trained workers in America, more companies are shelling out $10,000 to $20,000 to get cheaper employees an ocean away."

As if to confirm that observation, a recent news story in the Houston Chronicle by Wendy Lee reported that Renata Escovar, a Rice University economics graduate, was turned down for a waitressing job and Chisom Uluh, a University of Houston graduate with a communication degree, now is selling mattresses.

"Such experiences have become commonplace among college graduates facing the most dismal job market in nearly a decade," Lee wrote. She said many new college graduates now are selling clothes, serving food or taking other similar jobs they thought they had left behind once they earned they college diplomas.

Many lower-level service and manual labor jobs in the United States are being scooped up by both legal and illegal immigrants. Employer sanctions for hiring illegal immigrants are rarely enforced since there are no nationwide worker-identity standards.

The logic that moved American manufacturing jobs in textiles, furniture, sporting goods, stoves, refrigerators and much more to Mexico and other countries now is being applied to white collar jobs. Foreign workers are paid less, which is necessary for many businesses that compete in the global economy. To survive, all businesses must remain competitive and profitable.

As American manufacturing jobs became established in Mexico, wages for Mexican workers rose along with the nation's standard of living.

Since China joined the World Trade Organization, however, many U.S. multinational companies now hire Chinese workers who do the same jobs for several hundred percent less than Mexican workers.

Americans workers may soon be faced with the if-you-can't-beat-them-join-them choice in the brave, new multinational, global marketplace.

[George W. Bush]

I wonder if the Dims will try to use the outsourcing scare to help their party next year.

It's pretty hot for them to touch. But it could round up a lot of votes.

It would work best for Gephart or Dean. Basically, for whatever candidate has the guts to try it first. Combined with a brave stand on immigration, it could create quite a stir even if the economy generally recovers.

[harpseal]

Ping before I go out.

On or off this list let me know

[harpseal]

Since I will ne out most of the day I am afraid I will have to forego it :^) until this evening :^(

So in case anyone has missed it here is the plan.


In no particular order of importance.

1. Get rid of government subsidies for offshore investment of US companies. OPIC is the first such program which should go but support of World Bank programs that subsidize the outflow of Capital would be another.

2. Use tariffs on those nations which are engaged in unfair trade practices such as currency manipulation (China and India for example), those nations which refuse to open their markets to US products (China for example with its 50% tariffs on US consumer goods and non tariff barriers), those nations that subsidize competition to American Industry (airbus for example) and those nations which have slave conditions for their workers.

3. Use tariffs and other means to prevent the relocation of jobs offshore that are essential to the national defense. If necessary take control of the company seeking to export vital technology or industry by means of eminent domain (No I do not like this last option and I will only defend its use as an absolute last resort like say in the case of rare earth magnets essential to smart bomb technology). Provide a hardened, widely distributed infrastructure to supply all that is needed for our military units and civil defense that can be continued to be deployed in the event of any military attack.

4. An immediate end to guest worker programs. If people wish to come to the USA to work and make a life let them immigrate according to the rules.

5 Provide economic development zones where the corporate income tax is zero for operations within these zones. In order to operate in this zone a company must agree to only purchase American components if available and employ only American citizens or legal immigrants in these operations. These economic development zones shall be eventually be expanded to include every bit of every state once the benefits are shown I would like them to be totally implemented immediately but I realize4 that may be overreaching. It must be stated for clarification that simply being in the geographic area of the zones does will not subject any company to any new mandatory regulation. Everything is voluntary for getting the exclusion from corporate taxation. The profit attributable to direct imports is subject to the same rules that exist everywhere else in this nation for corporate taxation. Only free from such taxation is the profit attributable to American content and any American improvement. In short no new mandatory regulation will be a part of this. It is my opinion that there will not be a lack of companies seeking this tax relief. And no the regulation implied is absolutely minimal in order to get this through.

6. Scale back unnecessary regulation including the tort system. Institute a cap on punitive damages, limits on class action suits, and limits on liability to the actual percentage of liability with no plaintiff able to collect if said plaintiff was involved in the commission of a felony at the time of the alleged tort or was more than 49% negligent in the alleged tort. Note that the loser in a frivolous lawsuit shall pay the attorney fees of the winner. There are many other regulatory structures that also need to be included that need to be included such as repealing the Family leave mandate, getting rid of OSHA etc.

7. Increase the domestic content in purchases by the Department of defense and give absolute preference in non-domestic content to proven allies of the USA over say the French or Germans. The only reason any content for DOD purchase may come from non US allies is that content is not available elsewhere and is essential.

8. Do not allow expense involved in moving operations overseas to be included in business expenses under the IRS code.

9. Prosecute for perjury anyone who has made a false statement in order to employ an H1B or L1 visa worker. I will be lenient on the actual perjurer if he/she was ordered to make this false statement and he/she provides testimony to aid in the conviction of the person ordering the perjury. Just because a person is a CEO does not give them a pass on criminal behavior.

10. Prosecute anyone who orders the transfer of vital defense technology or funds a R&D project that could be of use to our military overseas except to strong allies of the USA. Make the necessary enhancements to our espionage laws so that continued support or funding of any R&D in a nation whose government has threatened the USA is guilty of espionage. The UK and Australia come to mind as meeting these criteria for being eligible for transfer of technology first. There will be other nations and a gradation of what can be transferred to which specific nation. Under no circumstances may technology be transferred to any nation whose government has threatened the USA within five years without a complete change of government or specific exemption from Congress and the administration.

11. Deport all illegal aliens immediately and take measures that prevent the entry of any more illegal aliens. Fine all companies knowingly employing illegal aliens Criminal sanctions should be imposed on anyone helping an illegal alien stay in the USA in violation of our laws.

12. Decrease the punishing levels of taxation on companies and eliminate the double taxation on corporate dividends. See effects of item 5 for how minimal this will be if item 5 covers the entire USA. Eliminate all IRS provisions that inhibit free use of independent contractors by businesses for example section 1706.

13. Eliminate the minimum wage so that the worker can be paid based on productivity. Overtime compensation will remain the same but instead of 150% of the "wage" the worker would receive 150% of the production pay. If one through 13 are enacted # 14 becomes an irrelevancy as no one will be working for that low a wage.

Now since I started posting this plan another idea has come up that in my opinion is a very good policy that stands on its own. Now I give credit to Jim Gibson and Freeper Ed_in_NJ for coming up with the idea, separately to the best of my knowledge. However I can be corrected on that. The tariff phrasing is from Jim Gibson.

“I suggest that the US Customs Department charge a $1,000-per-container inspection fee on every container entering the United States. This fee would be used to completely fund the cost of inspections. If we assumed that a four-man team could fully inspect two containers a day or about 500 per year, it would require 48,000 inspectors. Allowing for at least 2,000 support personnel, we would need at least 50,000 workers. Because these workers would require high intelligence and skill levels they should earn at least $30 per hour. At 40-hour weeks plus benefits, I estimate the cost per worker to be over $75,000 per year, all paid by the foreign manufacturers. Even so, this would still leave over $2.25 billion to cover all other costs. Any revenue not used would be used to compensate American workers displaced by foreign imports. “

I urge and encourage everyone who agrees with this plan and or the terror tariff idea to communicate this to every politician you can think of.

[RogueIsland]

Which is fine if you have a network, which everyone should have after working 1-3 jobs.

Not necessarily. I had a pretty good network at one time. It's slowly been decimated by acquisitions, mergers, and offshoring by the companies I once contracted with. Just about everyone I knew in the business five years ago is either out of the business due to offshoring/downsizing or gone somewhere else and I've lost track of them.

[Paul Ross]

I had a B.S in Business Admin with a concentration in Marketing.

In other words, white collar work. You aren't trained to know how to actually make stuff. We need more engineers, chemists, and manufacturing process specialists, and machinists, etc. But the few American-native students with the discipline for that, are being told there are no jobs. Americans need not apply. Which of course creates and reinforces the perverse disincentive to go into the technical fields in the first place.

[Destructor]

It'll be fun to see these dislocated workers form their own companies, and ultimately kick the collective asses of those old, established companies that have sold us out!

[optimistically_conservative]

It'll be fun to see these dislocated workers form their own companies, and ultimately kick the collective asses of those old, established companies that have sold us out!

Yes it would, but remember - at least in the tech area - it is the renegades that took on big blue (IBM) that are now outsourcing all those "boom" jobs (M$). It's amazing the difference 20 years makes in becoming "the establishment." It would be interesting to see how, and where in the market, the next boom rises. It seems that most people forget that the technology boom came out of the 1990s recession, and the doom and gloom stories then were as bad as today's.

"Such experiences have become commonplace among college graduates facing the most dismal job market in nearly a decade," Lee wrote.

OK, someone remind me again, how long is the business cycle? When was the last recession?

[Centurion2000]

what makes me angry is networking in police departments, hospitals, fire departments, prisons, county administration, and eductional institutions. A few families get to the top of these public tax funded institutions and often hook-up friends and family; when times are good outsiders have a good chance of landing a job, but when times are bad, the succulant spots are already filled before they are emptied... it makes me very angry.

Nepotism .... gotta love it .. NOT

[Centurion2000]

You know what you can make as a prison gaurd with a GED education level working 10-12 hour shifts in CA??? $5,500 dollars per month after the first 3 years

More actually.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

"Mexico's workers now are in a panic over losing their NAFTA-generated manufacturing jobs to China, the world's new global manufacturing center."

Many of these unemployed are no doubt finding their way north, where they are finding new employment, along with health, education and welfare benefits in the U.S.

[Porterville]

I figure there are 100 of thousands or even millions of people like me, who have graduate degrees in business or an other real major, and want to work in the public sector but can not get in because of the sister's daughter graduating from some school back east with a liberal arts degree. I don't know how to revolt but I'm just about at my limit. How can they take the public doe and give it to the unqualified??? I’ve seen nineteen year olds land 45,000 dollar jobs in city governments, I’ve seen young women with emergency credentials take over supervisor jobs in schools landing 45-50 grand per year. I’ve seen a lot of this stuff from friends in management roles at the prisons….on and on

[lelio]

I’ve seen nineteen year olds land 45,000 dollar jobs in city governments

The major reason for that is that they want an employee for life that won't rock the boat. You're too ambitious and will:
a) likely be offered a private sector job
b) more than likely figure out where all the waste is
c) actually care about doing a good job vs getting a pay check and keeping your mouth shut (well until election day)

Get em young, pump them up with largish salaries, and you have a pup for life that won't want to be weaned from the mother.

As for prison guards making $60k a year: I say they deserve it. The job is rough, they're dealing with bad situations. Plus if you think things are crooked in prision now, wait till you start paying them $35k a year and they'll be forced to do illegal activity to just make ends meet.
That's why I can't understand people's desires to pay politicians a minimal amount of money. If you have power and you don't have money then you look to steal. I'll rather have a halfway honest public employee that's making $100k than a dishonest one making $30k.

[College Repub]

I know how to make stuff. Presentations and reports for example...

My hand-eye coordination, sense of direction, etc. are so poor that I'd probably die in an accident doing MFG/blue collar type stuff.

[College Repub]

Well, I'm only 22. My goal is to work my ass off, move up the career ladder, be making 100 by 28 and then marry a 20 year old. Hah. :)

[Paul Ross]

I would add a caveat about the well-paid public servants however. They should not have a good paycheck, but their jobs so cushy with 'perks' such as the totally-free health care that they no longer can relate to companies and individuals which struggle to cover health insurance. Or isolated by their ivory-tower from the providers perspective either. Medical services grow on trees, don't they? Just nationalize it, according to Hitlery, and we'll make it all better...

[fortaydoos]

FWIW, and I am sure it ain't much, I'd much rather patronize a company that advertizes it doesn't outsource to some heathen hellhole.

It burns me up to see young Americans, some with families, who just want a chance to work hard, having no opportunities because the decks are stacked against them by the free traitors lining their own pockets at the expense of their country. That is why I call them free traitors.

[Paul Ross]

Actually that should have read that they 'SHOULD have a good pacycheck, but perks not so cushy'

[scottlang]

The economy and jobs are going to be the key issue next year. The dems and the media will make it so. It is the only issue where they have a real chance of attacking Bush. The problem is unless we see real improvement in jobs and the economy they have an excellent chance for a moderate dem to take the white house. Remember the phrase, "Its the economy stupid." got us 8 years of Clinton.

[mpreston]

What's not being said is the cost of education here vs. 3rd world countries. With tuition rates in the US you need a good paying job to pay off the bills. On average if today's graduates land lower paying jobs will acedemia lower the cost of education? I doubt it. It will take time as tax revenues drop, acedemic subsidies from government drop, initial attempts to raise tuition fail and ultimately the cost of eduction comes down. That could take a few decades.