White-collar jobs may not be back soon

Dallas Morning News via Boston Globe ^ | August 3, 2003 | Angela Shah

[sarcasm]

But those very same forces are now serving to prolong workers' misery. More college-educated executives and managers have been cut from payrolls this last recession, compared with previous ones. And it's taking them longer to find new work.

More worrisome to them, however, is that the jobs may never come back.

[sarcasm]

ping

[wiseone]

How would you feel having your X ray read by some indian or russian,deciding if you have cancer or heart blockage?

''Even the medical sector is being affected because a lot of radiology is being read overseas,'' said Irwin Kellner, a professor of economics at Hofstra University in New York. ''They're transmitted back and forth on the Internet.''

[neutrino]

I firmly believe that this is going to be a major election issue, and we had best get to work on fixing the problem!

[tom paine 2]

If this was happening in any of the highly unionized indusries there would be blood on the streets.

[raybbr]

In the long run, more efficient companies mean more prosperity for Americans, economists say.

This has nothing to do with legal American workers. It means the stockbrokers and the bankers will get more money, that's all.

[BushCountry]

There is now a much more widespread expectation of strong economic growth. As many as 52% of respondents expect FY ’04 gross domestic product (GDP) to grow at 6.5%. A significant 37% even expected the GDP growth to hit the 7% figure. This is much higher than the growth recorded in recent years. Some research agencies have already put out GDP projections of 6 to 6.5% for FY ’04. This is the lastest figures on the GDP for next year. If we hit over 6% (low end) the country will be at full employment. It always happens in a booming ecomony (Bill Clinton's 20 million jobs). I know it is hard to tell someone who is unemployed to have a little patience, but soon, real soon, it will be an employee market again.

Next, do you realize that half the people on this planet never touched a computer screen? Do you realize that there is an explosive technology boom (telecommunications & Information Technology) happening worldwide? Do you realize that it would be stupid for American companies not to have a presence overseas to take advantage? Soon, the world will not be able to meet the demand for I/T professionals and require American solutions.

Also, American companies are in a business cycle where they must upgrade their I/T to survive. They held back too long due the to terrorist threat and their aging equipment is degrading. Look for renewed spending as the cash flows in.

[DugwayDuke]

"This has nothing to do with legal American workers."

BS! It has everything to do with "legal" American workers. It means that "legal" American workers can get goods and services at lower cost produced by more efficient companies rather than having to pay higher costs to inefficient companies providing inferior goods and services.

"It means the stockbrokers and the bankers will get more money, that's all."

Oh, yes, the "greedy capitalists". You do realize this sounds rather "Marxist"?

[RaceBannon]

Stop and think a little here!!

What makes you think it has to be an American Solution they seek??

We are not dealing with people living in grass huts and driving rickshaws!

We are dealing with human beings that can think just as much as me or you, and in some cass have better educations, and also a work force that is twice the size of our own to select the best and brightest from to choose who does what and when...

And we already gave them the hardware to do the work with, we trained them to do the thinking and how, and we sent the the contracts to make the capital investment with...

Why on Earth do they need to come here for anything anymore?

Name one thing we do here that we havent given away already?

Name one technology that is not in immediate danger of being outsourced or off-shored? The only one I can think of is Nuclear Submarines!

[SamAdams76]

If you are a paper-pusher, you better learn some other skills fast. White collar jobs are disappearing from corporations very quickly as software applications handle just about everything from payroll to parts ordering.

The change in my company over the past 15 years has been phenomenal. When I started there, my branch office had a half dozen "admin" staff, dispatchers, parts clerks, three managers (one for sales, one for admin and one for technical) and three supervisors (one for sales and two for technical).

Today, there are only two of those people left. The sales manager and myself (I'm the tech manager). Technicians are self-dispatched as service calls come in over the web and page out. Billing is mostly automated. I enter the technicians expenses into a software program and checks are automatically cut for them and mailed out. Parts and supplies are automatically replenished and shipped to the technicians directly - all I do is review the orders on-screen. About a hundred other innovations I won't even bother to go into.

But our total staffing continues to decrease even as our revenues and gross margin increases year after year. Bascially the way it is in my company, if you aren't in the field selling or out in the field turning a screwdriver, your job is in jeopardy. Even I'm not taking my management job for granted. I've already gotten certified on Microsoft systems and keep myself up to date technically just in case it is decided that branch managers are no longer needed.

[finnman69]

I firmly believe that this is going to be a major election issue, and we had best get to work on fixing the problem!

The only way to fix this is to reward, not punish companies into keeping jobs here.

[harpseal]

ping

[harpseal]

I've already gotten certified on Microsoft systems and keep myself up to date technically just in case it is decided that branch managers are no longer needed.

You will then find yourself up against a whole bunch of experienced unemployed IT people competeing for jobs that have been offshored.

[raybbr]

Oh, yes, the "greedy capitalists". You do realize this sounds rather "Marxist"?

Whatever it sounds like, it's true.

Why can't you buy stocks directly from a company? Why do you have to go through the stock market? Why do banks pay 1.5% for money and we are paying 12-26% for the money we borrow? Don't tell me there isn't a mass gouging of the American people by the money industry. Besides, it's all on paper. Isn't that what caused the collapse of 1999? No tangible assests. Everything was on paper and when buying paper with paper collapsed so did our economy.

[harpseal]

BS! It has everything to do with "legal" American workers. It means that "legal" American workers can get goods and services at lower cost produced by more efficient companies rather than having to pay higher costs to inefficient companies providing inferior goods and services.

You are ignoring the currency controls, OPIC and many other pgovernment policies that are encouraging the deindustrialization of the USA.

Yes, the "greedy capitalists". You do realize this sounds rather "Marxist"?

Now since you are pushing the internationalist line which is Marxist I would not be criticiszing those who are noting the short term beneficiaries of these policies.

[finnman69]

Why can't you buy stocks directly from a company?

You can.

[SamAdams76]

I know that, but I was referring to a technical job within my own company should my management job be eliminated. I doubt I'd find very much outside my own company at this point. It's bad out there.

[Bluntpoint]

Name one technology that is not in immediate danger of being outsourced or off-shored? The only one I can think of is Nuclear Submarines!

And Walmart has driven most of the "Mom and Pop" nuclear submarime manufacturers out of business!

[Doohickey]

Labor is ''a mouse click away, more skilled and at one-fifth of the cost,'' said Rudy Puryear, a partner with Bain & Co. in Chicago, who advises clients on such off-shoring issues. ''There's been an acceleration of that over the last three or four years.''

Well, there you have it. The offshoring industry's new mantra to spin their selling-out of Americans. Americans are too stupid to hold technical jobs.

[BushCountry]

American companies are in a business cycle where they must upgrade their I/T to survive. They held back too long due the to terrorist threat and their aging equipment is degrading. Look for renewed spending as the cash flows in.  Below is the listing for the fastest growing jobs. 

Job Search - Job Listing - Fastest Growing Jobs [1998-2008]

• Data Communication Analysts +106% change
• Computer Security Specialists +106% change
• Computer Engineers +103% change
• Computer Systems Analysts +85% change
• Computer Support Specialists +85% change
• Page Layout Workers +76% change
• Chiropractors +70% change
• Paralegals +68% change
• Medical Assistants +62% change

These doom and gloom posts are so funny. There is a very good chance that we will experience a GDP of 6.5% or greater, millions of jobs will be created as people and companies open their purse strings, and all you can say is but, but...

Kind of like the guy who wins a million dollars, but complains that the guy that gave him the check had shifty eyes. The refusal to see the possibility of something good is an curious phenomena that is ingrained in these posts. The world is changing, things are getting better, Americans are a strong and resourceful people, the nation will survive and still be the envy of the world.   Have faith in America and in the American people that make this country so great, thank you very much.