Despite the Internet-enabled traveling nature of service jobs like computer programming, many jobs require workers on the ground--even in the information technology business. For example, my own organization recently launched a computer repair and desktop and networking support business that hires and trains local low-income or unemployed workers.
| We already know that we have an outdated elementary and secondary educational system that's ill-equipped to serve the future. |
We must clearly identify what future businesses cannot "travel" and target education and training programs toward specific "insourcing" opportunities.
Additionally, joint ventures crossing global boundaries might also work to the mutual advantage of local and international workers. Numerous small Web companies hire overseas design workers; by cross-sourcing, a local company with limited resources is able to offer a more competitive product. The overseas worker, lacking business infrastructure and a client base, is still able to find appropriate employment.
Tax firms conducting outsourcing
Companies that choose to outsource--now a majority of the Fortune 500--should be required to utilize a small percentage of outsourcing savings to fund the retention or retraining of workers. By instituting such a program, a company would also be demonstrating to employees a concern for more than the bottom line. If mandated by the federal government, no company could win an unfair competitive advantage.
Expand job training with a focus on the future
The current system of training support on the federal and state levels needs serious revamping. As well as superior funding, more flexibility is required to focus on tomorrow, not yesterday. We should be putting our best minds to work, identifying opportunities about to come online. Industries like home technology integration, on-demand computing and Internet telephony are just a few examples of an IT service industry wave that is about to break. Are our workers ready?
Education for the future
Certain corporate leaders have recently argued that jobs are going overseas, because our education system is not up to snuff. Relative to outsourcing, this is a just a smokescreen. We already know that we have an outdated primary and secondary educational system that's ill-equipped to serve the future. But we also have plenty of highly skilled workers available now.
Yes, we absolutely need to train more knowledge workers to be highly independent, critical thinkers, with the ability to organize, multitask and utilize advanced technology tools with ease. But that is a separate issue from the current cost-cutting trend. Until our society decides to invest in public and private school systems, corporate profiteers will conveniently use education as an excuse.
Research next-generation jobs
Who is actually identifying and developing training programs? Nobody!
The Internet and its predecessors have only quickened an outsourcing trend that began decades ago.
Understand the cost of job loss scenarios
We need to know better the social and economic costs of job losses and propose remedies for the pain and disruptions. Given our technology and rapid access, it seems pitiful that we take so long to recognize major changes in the economy. We need to develop a "real time" system of analysis to help us adapt instantaneously. If this were in place, we could feel much more secure in negotiating international trade agreements. Such agreements might no longer be viewed as trade theory experiments but rather as carefully crafted social covenants that also respect the rights and aspirations of workers and consumers.
Globalization is unstoppable; anyone even generally aware of the sea changes occurring in worldwide business, technology and culture knows this. Yet it can be better shaped to serve both the economy and humanity. The Internet and its predecessors have only quickened an outsourcing trend that began decades ago. Workers no longer need to cross physical borders to access better jobs, nor do companies need to relocate to access cheaper labor. The knowledge worker is as nimble and available as cyberspace allows.
Equally important is the fact that the modern multinational is a kind of nation state, with unswerving loyalty to its shareholders and its leaders and too little concern for the well being of countries, communities or peoples. Small and midsize businesses are likely to eventually walk a similar path with their smaller footprints.
Given these realities, what do we do about outsourcing? The answer does not necessarily involve congressional legislation or a boycott of Hewlett-Packard. A fundamental answer lies in local entrepreneurship, along with both larger-scale and more creative grassroots undertakings. Success also demands regional and national support, and scrutiny of forward-looking education and training programs, in addition to a rapid-response work force system. Let's move ahead now!
Biography
Technology activist Paul Lamb is the principal of
(1) regulatory costs - repeal costly regulations
(2) taxes - cut them
(3) litigation costs - a tough nut to crack
But two of the three obvious solutions point clearly to laissez-faire, not more government intervention and bureaucratic meddling.
Technocrats like complex solutions to simple problems; wisdom consists in the reverse.
1) Bad things do happen, Pollyanna: think of the Great Depression. That horror was created by ill-considered government policies. Saying that ?globalization is unstoppable?, so we are not going to do anything at all, is not a good enough response from people paid to be leaders of the general population.
2) It is disingenuous to say that only a few jobs can be migrated to lower-cost countries. A ?computer repair and desktop and networking support business? is an obvious candidate for elimination. Telephone support can be done anywhere in the world, and computer repair is becoming as obsolete a task as television repair. A little ?creative? thinking can find ways of eliminating 85% or more jobs currently performed in the US.
3) Offshoring is only the most visible part of a long-term trend to reduce ?income equalization.? In the coming decade, we will, unless we deliberately choose to change course, reduce all or most of the following items:
? Taxation (including the marginal rate);
? Welfare and unemployment benefits;
? Medical benefits (including employee, Medicare and Medicaid);
? Grants for scientific research;
? Schools programs (including Head Start and college loans)
If the current underemployment trend in the US continues and the government holds to presently announced policies, it is simple economics to predict that the dollar will continue to fall against other currencies and the deficit will increase. That will damage the market for both domestic and imported goods, a situation that will feed upon itself.
So what can we do? Entrepreneurship is not the answer. An entrepreneur with no customers is as unemployed as a laid off worker. (Did you know that China has the most entrepreneurs in the world?)
Even training, in the conventional sense, is not a complete answer. In today?s spiraling job market, a sixteen-year education from first grade to undergraduate degree may make no sense. To add another six years for that math or science doctorate that Messrs Greenspan and Gates think will solve all problems, may make even less sense.
I have seen a company go through the cycle of retraining C++ programmers to Java and then moving all their jobs offshore in under three years. Given that it takes about two years to gain useful competence in most technical and other knowledge work, that creates a cycle of two years training and apprenticeship for each year of valuable contribution. It is no wonder that no one has seriously proposed a substantive retraining program for US workers.
There may be irony in the fact that it is in the best interests of those ?low cost? countries, which are currently the jobs beneficiaries of globalization, to take a leadership position, since the US has abdicated the role. If we carry on in this undirected manner, we could send the entire globe into a prolonged depression with horrific consequences for everyone.
If it is money they are trying to save then out source the CEO's position that would free up alot of cash.
I believe that the key to having a stronger economy is by strengthening our U.S. Based Businesses. I feel that all the foreign outsourcing, that the larger corporations are performing, are only going to last for short period. Soon, the U.S. will be back on it's feet and these companies will start to relocate all services back to the U.S. I see this happening within the next 5 years. However, this is my opinion.
On the contrast... I feel for the employees who lost their jobs due to foreign outsourcing. I hope that many companies start to realize that the quality of the services, provided in other coutntries, are not as good as the services provided here. As a consumer, I can vouch for that.
Think about what actually drives the economy in the first place, consumers. By increasing the unemployment in the US, you are reducing the number of consumers. By tricking everyone into thinking that you are employing people but really paying them minimum wage, you are reducing the number of consumers.
US consumers also drive the economies in many other countries as well (although this will become less of the case in the future).
If you think that you can print money and hope the problem will go away, then you're in for another surprise. Inflation and an even greater threat of a collapsing economy (although the government is already acutely aware of this).
If you think it needs to go down a bit before it goes up again then think again. The up is a long way off. Outsourcing will not speed the process up it will only speed up the way down.
I've seen too many articles that state how outsourcing will -create- jobs in the U.S.
This article says it like it is. Job's won't be created here unless we identify what work must stay here and build businesses/training around that kind of work. No easy task but necessary for survival.
http://www.whomovedmyjob.org
The Internet and cheap transportation have opened the door for any type of job to be outsourced now. There is no reason why Architectural designs and drawings can?t be produced in India or Asia. We have already learned of accounting being exported to India for tax returns. My company imports substantial commodity items from all over the world, but never before did I wonder if my own work would be at risk to the poor people in other regions of the world. What then makes any of us worth more than they?
The fact is, we have given over the sovereignty of our nation to a globally based management structure that does not function in our behalf. Our government was founded to be? of the people, by the people, and for the people. There was no mention then of sharing our rights or freedoms with anything like corporations. For that matter, the founding fathers weren?t interested in what was happening in another country someplace on the other side of the globe. Their primary responsibility was to the people of this nation as a collective body. This simple concept seems to be overlooked universally.
It might take twenty years to unwind this problem, but the leaders of our government must start this process now. Education is not the answer for everyone and I do care about the person with a below average IQ that needs to have a job that produces a living wage and basic human services like health care and a safety net for unemployment and old age. What difference does anything else make if we can?t focus our efforts on a worth while goal? I want my children and grandchildren to be able to see a future that makes sense to them as individuals.
First corporations were able to give up on the social compact of old age pensions. Then the health care costs became too great a strain on their profit goals and were eliminated or reduced (still underway). Now the Federal government wants to abdicate their responsibilities for both Social Security and Medicare. At the same time they are spending our tax dollars, by the billions, on overseas adventures and power trips. This next step of giving away our means for a modestly pleasant life ? premised upon gainful employment and effort ? may very well be the last straw that our society can withstand. This could very well undermine our very existence as a fair and free society.
We can?t become more productive and still be a civilized nation. Almost all of the adults now work. Children are put into nursery school, pre-school, and then twelve to sixteen years of institutional learning. Once indoctrinated, we start a lifetime of work and manipulation by the banks, the corporations, and the government to strip us of the value of that work (money).
I don?t know what the breaking point will be, but I believe that hopelessness isn?t too far from where we are today. What happens then ? do we call the malcontents anarchists and hunt them down for prison? Who is the criminal?
We must slowly bring back work already lost and create a government willing to regulate American Corporations to force their submittal to American Social Values. We can't afford to do anything else. That is why we have government.
We have to live with it. India is already losing jobs to China! The effect is world wide and will not stop until all markets equalize.
OUR solution needs an assault on two fronts: First, we the people need to invest BIG in education HERE because thats where innovation is going to begin. Second, while we can't tax outsourcing, we CAN build a tax credit system for companies spinning off or sponsoring US based businesses.
...and we have to do it quickly. Once we've gutted the American middle class, what's left here to sell to? Why stay?
- Innovate
- by alan_white March 29, 2004 9:57 AM PST
- You are fighting the last war by trying to redistribute existing jobs. We need tax policies that promote innovation. Leave the buggy whips to the offshorers.
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