Outsourcing Cheerleaders Getting Nervous
Posted at Dean’s World here.
“The inaccurate perception that global sourcing is causing a net loss in US technology jobs is a factor in some students’ decisions not to pursue higher education in IT. It is a perception that we are working to correct,” Harris Miller, president of the IT Association of America said.
Inaccurate perception? For years and the IT Association of America have joined Microsoft CEO Bill Gates to push for an unlimited number of foreign IT workers into the United States, and have fought all efforts to halt or even study the flow of jobs abroad and the potential danger this poses to American security. Today there is no limit to offshoring. Companies exhort executives to ponder “What can I outsource today?” It’s gotten to the point that Gates has warned companies that they are outsourcing too much. That hasn’t stopped the lemming-like rush to offshore.
Who wants a job where “long term” means next year and stability lasts only as long as the current pay period? Who desires a job competing against an influx of nonimmigrant visa holders who make on average 25% less than you do? How about a job that requires years of training but can be sent abroad today for a fraction of your prospective salary? Would you get a degree in a field that will have completely changed by the time you graduate? Or a job whose entry level positions have been sent abroad?
While it pains me to say this, college kids aren’t stupid. Enrollment in the Computer Sciences (CS) bachelors degree programs dropped 19% in 2004, and the number majoring in CS declined by 23% overall. Kids are voting with their feet, avoiding a field that doesn’t guarantee them a wage to pay back their student loans. Dr. Ron Hira, Assistant Professor of Public Policy at Rochester Institute of Technology and the chair for IEEE-USA Career & Workforce Policy, attributes this decline to one simple fact: a Computer Science degree doesn’t pay.
IT wages and salaries have been in decline for years in the USA, while they have been skyrocketing in India and China. Why? Because IT jobs are leaving the US and going to those nations. There is simply too large a pool of IT trained labor in the USA chasing after too few jobs available here. Meanwhile, Congress, through nonimmigrant visa programs such as the L-1 and H-1b, have allowed more than 1 1/2 million foreign workers into the United States, mostly men from China and India to fill positions in the IT field.
Forrest Research claims that 11 percent of American white-collar jobs, affecting 14 million people, are vulnerable to offshoring. The research arm of an offshoring firm says 540,000 service jobs moved offshore through 2004 and predicts a loss of 3.4 million positions by 2015 (source). In theory Globalization is supposed to be a win-win for both nations; in fact, Nobel Laureate Paul Samuelson details how offshoring to China has led to permanent per capita real income loss. Prof. Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001, points to the decline of real wages in the United States in the 10 years after the signing of NAFTA as proof that trade with China isn’t solely to blame for this income loss.
So college students are avoiding fields that can potentially be offshored. Do you blame them? Miller, whose organization is generously supported by offshoring giants like HP, IBM and Tata, has apparently become concerned with this situation – one that he has helped create.
What’s the matter Harris, afraid you’ll run out of people to send to the unemployment line?
Oh, and before you mention the supposed benefits of offshoring jobs read this.
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