Posted on 08/03/2003 7:42:08 AM PDT by RockyMtnMan
Michael Emmons thought he knew how to keep a job as a software programmer.
"You have to continue to keep yourself up to speed," he said. "If you don't, you'll get washed out."
Up to speed or not, Emmons wound up being "washed out" anyway. Last summer, he moved his family from California to Florida for the Siemens Co., makers of electronics and equipment for industries. Not long after, Emmons and 19 other programmers were replaced by cheaper foreign workers.
Adding insult to injury, Emmons and the others had to train their replacements.
"It was the most demoralizing thing I've ever been through," he told ABCNEWS. "After spending all this time in this industry and working to keep my skills up-to-date, I had to now teach foreign workers how to do my job so they could lay me off."
Just as millions of American manufacturing jobs were lost in the 1980s and 1990s, today white-collar American jobs are disappearing. Foreign nationals on special work visas are filling some positions but most jobs are simply contracted out overseas.
"The train has left the station, the cows have left the barn, the toothpaste is out of the tube," said John McCarthy, director of research at Forrester Research, who has studied the exodus of white-collar jobs overseas. "However you want to talk about it, you're not going to turn the tide on this in the same way we couldn't turn the tide on the manufacturing shift."
India Calling
Almost 500,000 white-collar American jobs have already found their way offshore, to the Philippines, Malaysia and China. Russia and Eastern Europe are expected to be next. But no country has captured more American jobs than India.
In Bangalore, India, reservation agents are booking flights for Delta; Indian accountants are preparing tax returns for Ernst & Young; and Indian software engineers are developing new products for Oracle.
They are all working at a fraction of the cost these companies would pay American workers.
For example, American computer programmers earn about $60,000, while their Indian counterparts only make $6,000.
"It's about cost savings," said Atul Vashistha, CEO of NeoIT, a California-based consulting company that advises American firms interested in "offshoring" jobs previously held by Americans. "They need to significantly reduce their cost of doing business and that's why they're coming to us right now."
Vivek Pal, an Indian contractor for technology consulting group Wipro, whose clients include Microsoft, GE, JP Morgan Chase, and Best Buy, is hiring 2,000 Indian workers quarterly to keep up with demand. Pal knows American workers resent the "offshoring" trend but says all Americans will benefit in the long run.
"Globalization — whether it's for products or services — may feel like it hurts, but at the end of the day, it creates economic value all around," said Pal.
At the end of the day, Emmons has a different view: "If you sit at a desk, beware," he said. "Your job is going overseas."
I think Bush will "get it" now.
And the checks in the mail.
Recently a supermarket chain in my area has introduced self-serve checkout counters. Basically there are 4 self-serve machines and an island for one cashier. He/she is there to punch in the produce price and check ID's for alcohol or handle any problems a customer may have using the machine. I like the self-serve machines. They seem to be less time consuming and make the checkout process faster.
Now the supermarket has effectively outsourced three cashier positions to the machines.
Do you two think this practice should be abolished?
As a pretty hardcore free market capitalist this makes me sick.
They have a right to hire and fire whoever they like, but using people in this fashion is immoral and our government issuing visas to these Indians by manipuplating immigration laws to placate interests is infuriating.
People are starting to get pissed off. Pissed off techies can become problematic.
I love free business environment but I don't like watching people get f***ed. It's practices such as this that bring business regulations and enemies. Unions were borne out of this type of greed.
Shoplifters like them a lot too. That is why in these self serve lanes they have to station people to watch you to make sure you ring up your own purchases. So much for cost savings.
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What you will hear from Bush is some meaningless evasive generalities.
They actually do pay payroll taxes, but I get your gist, there should only protection for the guilded IT worker, even though technology and globalization is effecting everybody for good(savings for the companies) and bad(some IT workers losing there jobs).
BTW, if you were the owner of the company, wouldn't you try to cut the costs of your company, such as many people try to get the most bang out there buck, when they comparison shop.
Do you two think this practice should be abolished?
I just love the self-service checkout.
It beats dealing with a teenager with an attitude.
No.
Nor do I say that offshore outsourcing should be abolished.
Now, I have a question for you, my high-school chum: If almost all the jobs related to manufacturing are nearly wiped-out as a profession in America; and if we are offshoring (and thusly not doing) accounting, engineering, software, call-center work, reading and interpreting medical data, financial planning, and soon enough medical doctor and lawyering work; and if immigrants are doing transportation, agriculture, and the remaining other low-tech work; and if robotics will be completely eliminating 90% of retail sales jobs with RFID technology and self-checkout lanes.....
.....what will we be doing?
And a Democrat president will do nothing about offshoring, because there's nothing he can do.
So, you've accomplished nothing.
RFID will obviate the need for station watchers.
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