Outsourcing Jobs In America

Because many businesses in the US have more often began outsourcing different business products instead of doing them in-house, it is important to understand why outsourcing may be the best option. Although many tie outsourcing to foreign markets, outsourcing can include both foreign and domestic markets. By entering into a contractual agreement, outsourcing allows organizations to pay for services they need. This gives the option for a business to get professionals to perform services for them that the business may not have the staff for. Outsourcing provides a cost saving-strategy that is usually more affordable. Ultimately,

By 2004, more than 80 percent of U.S. executive boardrooms will have discussed offshore sourcing, and more than 40 percent of U.S. enterprises will have completed some type of pilot or will be sourcing IT (information technology) services. In fact, some of the biggest firms in the United States have been seriously discussing outsourcing recently. One of these companies being IBM, the world's biggest computer maker, discussed saving about $168 million beginning in 2006 by moving thousands of programming jobs overseas, according to internal information provided. U.S. businesses, battered by the recent three year bear market in stocks and an economy struggling to find its footing, have already developed a taste for super cheap labor in developing countries, where workers are increasingly better trained especially if they've spent significant time working in the United States on temporary visas. The impact of overseas outsourcing could be significant; many economists doubt the trend is big enough yet to disrupt the broader U.S. economy. Imports of business services account for less than 1/20 of 1 percent of gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation's economy. At the least, it's not doing much to end the longest U.S. labor-market slump since World War II. More than 9.3 million people are

Supporters argue that outsourcing has a minimal effect on job losses, and has increased economic growth in some cases. In actuality, outsourcing has decreased the domestic economy by decimating job opportunities and lowering wages. Steven Pearlstein, economics columnist for the Washington post reaffirmed arguments that outsourcing has decreased employment availability and stability of the economy by saying “There are growing numbers of people who think that what started as a sensible, globalized extension of sending some work outside a firm to specialized companies may in fact be creating long-term structural unemployment in the United States, hollowing out entire industries”. (Pearlstein 3) The IT industry has been especially affected by outsourcing, with many jobs moving overseas to India and Bangladesh, leaving employees in the United States without a job, unable to compete with lower wage offerings. Supporters of outsourcing argue that this business strategy increases everyone’s productivity, raising everyone’s income, and boosting economic growth. Many such studies tend to focus on large multinational corporations, for which the data and anecdotes are more readily available. And indeed, during the 1990s, the data seemed to show that for every one job added abroad, companies added almost two new

Many businesses in United States manufacture their product overseas. This involves manufacturing products outside United States where the labor cost is cheaper. Because of cheap labor, it is often more economical for a U.S. company to manufacture overseas and pay the shipping costs than to manufacture in the United States. For a company, the savings may be substantial. However, there are negative impacts on U.S. employment, as many jobs in the United States are being outsourced and replaced by overseas positions. The manufacturers outsource production projects to save time, money or resources. The manufacturing is outsourced so as to remain competitive and maintain a steady work flow. Without outsourcing, manufacturing costs could escalate to the point at which no product would sell and all employees would have no work. Outsourcing comes

Outsourcing emerged on the financial arena during the 1980s and has since then been spreading. Outsourcing production was furthered with the process of globalization which provided a new component leading to the strengthening of resources, skill and labor specializations across the world. The process of outsourcing is using the skill and abilities of a third-party to accommodate society on the foundation of labor. As stated earlier, it was during the 1980s that the process kicked off mainly due to the efforts of corporations when they began to hire labor forces across the world. Even though outsourcing has come out from its developing stages, there are still following effects on the US economy.

It ends up putting our country farther into its trillions of dollars in debt. “Eight of the biggest U.S. technology companies added a combined $69 billion to their stockpiled offshore profits over the past year, even as some corporations in other industries felt pressure to bring cash back home (U.S)”. Eight of the top technology companies,including Microsoft, Apple and Google, now account for more than a fifth of the $2.10 trillion in profits that U.S. companies are holding overseas. “The amount of unrepatriated foreign profits reached $2.4 trillion, according to Citizens for Tax Justice, allowing companies to avoid up to $695 billion in taxes

The phenomenon has created major suffering for many American and as this outsourcing continues to spread, Americans will demand action (R. Hira 2008, p-95). The book also adds that scholars Ralph Goory and William Baumol have shown that even when the basic model of the economics are used trade does not make both the trading partners better off. The trading in one country will have a negative impact while trading in other country will have a positive impact. The country with negative impact will definitely affect its economy. United States economy being the world’s largest economy; historically, it has maintained a stable GDP growth, a low unemployment rate, a high level of research and capital investment funded by both national, and because of increasing saving rates, increasingly by foreign investors. But offshore outsourcing has increased the unemployment rate dramatically in the decade. And so the economy worsened day by day.

The most cited official projection outsourcing is by Forrester. It is estimated that outsourced US jobs will grow from about 400,000 in 2004 to 3.3 million (recenty revised to 3.4 million) by 2015 which seems quite significant. But on a yearly basis this accounts for about 250,000 jobs but in perspective the number is small compared to the total US employment of 137 million. It actually only constituate less than 2 per cent of 15 million Americans who lose their jobs each year . Goldman Sachs estimates that offshoring has accounted for 500,000 million lay offs in the past three years. A study by Ashok Deo Bardhan and Cynthia A. Kroll at the University of California, Berkeley indicates that up to 14 million Americans now work in occupations that are at risk of being outsourced . Forrester also estimated that 300,000 US jobs have been outsourced. While the Commerce Department 400,000 new jobs, which leaves a net result of 100,000 new US jobs . In addition, an Economic Policy Institute in New York announced that 144,000 new jobs were created in August 2004 . Summarizing the numbers, it seems that outsourcing will have a positive effect on the overall US economy.

While outsourcing may be beneficial to some of the companies partaking in it, the general consensus is that it ultimately proves to be harmful to the American workforce. The act of outsourcing and shifting many company call centers and technical support teams, or “low skill service jobs,” to foreign countries reduces jobs for those that could truly benefit from them within our own country. The unemployment rate has dramatically increased, and continues to rise, compared to what it has been in years past; yet there are numerous companies which still insist on handing over these “low skill service jobs” to people in other countries such as India. The most obvious and logical reason for outsourcing is reducing costs; people are working for

The debate over outsourcing in the U.S. is controversial among citizens and economists alike. There are many economists who believe that outsourcing is the next, most logical step in a free market economy (Mankiw & Swage, 2006). These economists believe that the market shifts according to supply and demand. An inherent feature of a free market economy is the free competition of goods and services where the goods and/or services go where the demand is the greatest. According to this view, there is a high demand for labor at a reduced cost and there is an almost endless supply of cheap labor overseas. An example of this would be that a call center attendant would be paid anywhere between twenty and twenty-five thousand dollars a year in compensation whereas the same worker in China would be paid approximately five thousand dollars in compensation per year (Mankiw & Swage, 2006). As anyone can see, there is a large difference between U.S. compensation and overseas compensation. These

As with so many global trends, there is significant disagreement over the implications of global competition in services for American prosperity and competitiveness. Many people are pessimistic about the impact of offshore outsourcing at a time when American workers are having more difficulty finding employment, since it creates personal hardships, reduces the tax base and increases demands on our safety nets. Competitors from lower-wage nations, it is feared, could put

Everyone tries to achieve the American dream, which is the opportunity for prosperity, success and upward mobility. For a lot of people, they get nowhere near their American dream because they are struggling trying to make a living. Lots of people are losing their jobs due to outsourcing which leads to people not attaining their goals of being in the higher class or even middle class status. So, what exactly is outsourcing? Outsourcing “occurs when an organization transfers some of its tasks to an outside supplier” (Gnuschke 1). In other terms, outsourcing is when a company shifts its business to a different country to produce goods and services at a much cheaper rate. A lot of people argue that outsourcing is bad for America while some people believe that outsourcing is actually beneficial for America. While outsourcing causes goods to price drop in America, outsourcing causes a lot of jobs to be lost which can cause an

Since outsourcing has begun effecting both party lines, Republican and Democrat officials will be interested because members of congress are self-interested. Congressmen who continue to evade the issue and avoid taking a strong stance on this issue will lose votes when it comes to election time and that doesn’t serve in the best interest for any politician. The other big player in this issue is big business. As labor is offered at cheaper rates overseas, it is very tempting for businesses to take advantage of that resource. Saving money is a great way to raise profits and stock values of companies. This brings up the hardest part of this issue. Americans own stock in the big companies that outsource jobs, if the company does well then the stock does well and it helps the investor. The average family makes between 33 to 45 thousand dollars a year. People in this bracket generally rely on their job to provide income and security for their family, not the value of stock. The middle class is taking the biggest hit and has the most to loose from outsourcing. The middle class has traditionally been the backbone of America ever since WWII. It has always been in any candidate’s best interest to appeal to this group of voters.

The main goal of a business is to break even, spending about the amount as profits gained, or gain a net profit and expand. While expanding is expensive, companies will attempt to outsource jobs to different countries for a cheaper cost . Outsourcing is an issue for multiple unemployed and employed Americans, where the businesses could be supporting families by creating jobs for those who need them. Flatworld solutions, a company made to help businesses outsource jobs, would argue, “You can get your job done at a lower cost and at better quality as well” (Flatworld). It does lower the cost,

In the past decade the topic of outsourcing has become a heavily debated subject on if it is ethically correct to outsourcing jobs to foreign countries. Outsourcing has become more and more an option for many companies and not just an economic fad. The decision to outsource is a difficult one for any company to make because there are many advantages and disadvantages to consider. The decision to outsource affects many people, communities, and industries so if a corporation decides to outsource they must consider how it will affect human dignity, the common good of the economy, and subsidiary.