As the US undergoes a jobless recovery from recession, opinion is running high against the exporting of hi-tech and other well-paying jobs to cheaper countries, India paramount among them.
NASSCOM’s report said that by reducing costs, outsourcing would increase US companies’ competitiveness in the global marketplace.
It points out that there will be an increasing demand for labor in the US over the next seven years, as the population ages, and this would actually cost the economy around $2 trillion, if not addressed early enough. It said this shortfall could be addressed by offshore sourcing, along with immigration and temporary workers.
The report also said that for every $100 of call-center work sent offshore by US firms, $143 was invested back into the US economy, in the form of repatriated profits, telecoms sales and cost savings. The payback for IT work was $133, and $142 for other high-end knowledge services.
The report also pointed out those booming economies in offshore centers presented new affluent markets for US goods and services.
While accepting that there would be a short term impact to the US workforce between now and 2010 as offshore outsourcing increases, it predicted that only 300,000 US workers were likely to be left unemployed for more than three months as a result.
This article was based on material originally published by ComputerWire.
