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Outsourcing and its misunderstandings

Benjamin Gruenbaum, a senior in Cornell's School of Industrial Labor Relations, has penned a thoughtful essay called OUTSOURCING: Bad for the Economy or Misunderstood Phenomenon? for the Cornell Daily Sun.

Republican Congressman: Dems foster "hysteria" on outsourcing

Just in case you needed a reminder that we're one day before a Presidential election, South Carolina Republican Congressman Joe Wilson is accusing the Democrats of fostering "hysteria" over the issue of overseas outsourcing.

In a column urging Indian Americans to support George Bush, Wilson writes that "Indian Americans know the outsourcing issue is one that has been created by Democrats for political gain at their expense." Maybe Wilson really believes what he's saying. But the offshore outsourcing controversy, which predates the elections, actually has more to do with structural changes in the U.… Read more

New Meta survey: Bush good for outsourcing

Almost half of the IT execs responding to a new Meta survey expect offshoring to increase if George Bush wins reelection as President.

News flash -- not.

Silicon Valley has long supported the Bush administration's argument that the free flow of labor and capital around the globe ultimately benefits the U.S. economy.

So it is that of the 300 businessmen responding to the poll, nearly 47 percent said a Bush victory would result in more U.S. companies moving jobs overseas. About 43 percent said a second Bush term would have no impact while approximately 11 per cent … Read more

Mandatory: Bring your parents to the job interview

Here's an odd tidbit courtesy of Sierra Atlantic, a U.S. company with operations in Hyderabad, India.

The firm now requires all applicants to bring their parents to work with them for an introduction to the company. What with the upswing in jobs outsourced from the U.S., the Indian job market has been subject to increasingly high employee turnover. Sierra Atlantic says it took the step to increase worker retention.

Maybe it's not as daffy as it seems at first blush. Sierra Atlantic is hoping to influence parents, who have more sway over their childrens' career choices … Read more

You're from WHERE!!!!????

When I recently called up my local DSL provider, there was no doubt about the location of the person at the other end of the line.

"Hello, this is Sam," a tech support guy told me with an accent that I was oh so familiar with from years dining in Indian restaurants.

If this guy's first name was Sam, then my first name is Ramesh. Of course I had been patched through to India. But so what? "Sam" helped me resolve my issue and I hung up a satisfied customer.

Now what if John Kerry … Read more

Kerry flubs politics of offshoring

John Kerry finally got specific about how to offset the pain suffered by software programmers who lose their jobs to offshoring. Better late than never but one week before the election, I suppose, but how many single-issue voters will really be persuaded at this late date? I guess we'll find out the answer on Nov. 2.

The new position paper contains a lot of Kerry's golden oldies about how to make sure more high-paying jobs don't wing their way to places like Bangalore, India. Kerry wants to expand the terms of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, which … Read more

Nobel economist questions offshoring

A number of prominent economists have defended "offshoring," but a veteran in the field has questioned their conclusion.

Paul A. Samuelson, professor emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a winner of the Nobel prize in economics in 1970, recently published a paper arguing that free trade isn't always peachy for all. "Sometimes a productivity gain in one country can benefit that country alone, while permanently hurting the other country by reducing the gains from trade that are possible between the two countries," Samuelson wrote in the Journal of Economic Perspectives.

Samuelson's article counters … Read more

Ad turns up dial on debate

Not surprisingly, the political rhetoric surrounding foreign outsourcing has intensified in the final stretch of the presidential campaign. One of the more memorable anti-offshoring ads was a national radio spot that began airing this week from the Communications Workers of America, the telecom industry's largest labor union, against layoffs at AT&T.

"Hello, you've reached AT&T," the ad begins, parodying an AT&T voice recording. "To speak to someone in India, press 1. To speak to someone in Mexico, press 2. To speak to the Americans who used to have these … Read more

'Offshoring' taboo, but taking off

U.S. companies dare not speak its name, but "offshoring" seems to be on the rise.

Research firm IDC recently predicted the worldwide market for offshore information technology services will more than double between 2003 and 2008 to $17 billion.

Another sign that U.S. businesses are eagerly sending IT tasks to lower-wage nations can be found in the healthy financial results of India-based tech companies. Infosys Technologies, for example, saw its revenue hit $379 million for the September quarter, up 51 percent from the same period last year. Its net income soared 49 percent to $97 million. … Read more