Outsourcing - Interesting report from Reuters today.

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

Outsourcing Causes 9 Pct. of U.S. Layoffs - Govt.
Thurs June 10, 2004 2:53 PM ET
By Andrea Hopkins

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The bulk of outsourced jobs never leave U.S. shores, the government said on Thursday in a new report suggesting concerns over American workers losing jobs to cheaper foreign labor may be exaggerated.

Nine percent of non-seasonal U.S. layoffs in the first quarter were due to outsourcing, but less than a third of the work was sent overseas, the U.S. Labor Department said in releasing new figures on mass layoffs and outsourcing.

"In more than seven out of 10 cases, the work activities were reassigned to places elsewhere in the U.S.," the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its report on mass layoffs for the January-to-March period.

Organized labor, critical of the administration's record on jobs, has promised to make outsourcing an issue in this year's presidential election.

While the figures offer the first official measure of the impact of outsourcing on U.S. employment, they count only layoffs at companies where at least 50 people filed for unemployment insurance during a five-week period and the layoff lasted more than 30 days.

That restriction means the figures do not capture the impact outsourcing has had on small businesses.

In the first three months of the year, 4,633 U.S. workers were laid off because their jobs were moved to a foreign country, the BLS said. That represents less than 2 percent of the mass layoffs that totaled 239,361 during that period.

When seasonal and vacation-related mass layoffs are excluded, the proportion of workers who lost their jobs due to overseas outsourcing rises to about 2.5 out of 100.

Another 9,985 workers lost their jobs because the work moved to a different location within America, BLS said.

However, the report showed outsourcing had a huge impact on whether work sites were permanently shut-down or just temporarily closed. Fifty-one percent of mass layoffs caused by outsourcing were permanent closures of the work site, compared to just 17 percent of total layoffs.

A large proportion of mass layoffs in America are due to seasonal factors -- such as winter layoffs in agriculture or summer shut-downs at manufacturing plants -- and about two-thirds last less than a month.

NVChickadee · Posted: Jun 10, 2004 12:58 pm Post subject:

I think they should do a study specifically on technical fields.

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

NVChickadee, I agree.

Leggester · Posted: Jun 10, 2004 3:08 pm Post subject:

If they did such a study, I'd think you'd find the bulk of those are Helpo Desk/Support kind of positions.

When HP outsourced one of it's releases, they brought it back in house fairly quickly ( Unix ). It was "out sourced" to a US firm.

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

Leggester, I've seen firms outsource to inhouse - i.e. bring in a firm (like Spherion) under contract to "employ" the employees and take care of HR functions and such. This seems to be happening quite a bit with HP and Agilent - both of whom have a large footprint here in Roseville.

I wonder if this type of "outsourcing" is included in those statistics?

Leggester · Posted: Jun 10, 2004 3:55 pm Post subject:

Dunno, good question.

All I know is I can't get an English speaker to help out with my router...

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

Leggester, I know the feeling. You may want to check if the MFG has an internet forum/online chat site for tech support. I have found that questions are usually answered faster (and by an American).

ercobrac · Outlaw Joined: 20 Jun 2003 Posts: 215

I own a software consulting firm. We maintain a 'Jack of all trades' mentality while at the same time possessing some highly specialized skills and have not had any issues getting gig, but I have lots of friends that have lost jobs and have trouble finding work. As a consultant over the past 15 years I've learned one thing, mutate or die in this industry. You have to be continuously learning the new technologies. I see all too often, employees with the firms I do business with, remain complacent with the changing technologies and do not take the opportunities before them. This contributes to their demise in most cases. Not in all circumstances, but in quite a bit.

One thing that should be looked at is firms that are outsourcing hardware/data to third world countries. Now when you call a help center, you have to wonder how secure your personal info (financial info) really is. Want to shut America down, attack the data centers over seas. Think it's pretty risky.

My .02.