Dude, where's my job?
Tamara M. Wright
Issue date: 7/1/09 Section: Opinion
When I was first starting college back in 2001 (yes, I have been in college that long), it was being taught in different classes such as sociology and other subjects that eventually outsourcing would contribute to the collapse of the economy as we knew it, as well as would be a contributor to the demise of the middle class in the United States. Still as years progressed, the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs, IT jobs, call center jobs, even at some point the United States government got involved, having tax returns processed in India (there was some concern about this). Pretty much every company in the United States followed suit. It made perfect business sense: they paid the foreigners half or less than they would American workers. Most of the time, the Americans also required benefits that cost the companies millions and millions of dollars.
However, when everyone began to do this, well, some people in the U.S. didn't have jobs anymore. More and more jobs were cut and we began to see some economic troubles. The problems with people who do this, is that eventually, if you have no jobs, well you also can't buy things and you don't have a consumer base anymore. When people don't have jobs, they can't buy houses, if they have houses, they can't pay for them and have them foreclosed on. They can't buy cars (that are made in other countries for cheap labor, laying off employees here); they can't buy goods at all. This is just all common sense. When I found myself having to find another job, as the current was in the air at my customer service call center job that it was heading to the Philippines, I knew that it was hitting close to home. Also, I knew telecom and IT people who have had jobs taken, jobs that are now being handled by someone in India. For every job taken, there is someone that is in the unemployment line, someone who may be trying to support a family, pay a house payment, or get fed. The people who are being paid elsewhere also do not have enough money to afford what we would otherwise be buying. Remember, part of the reason that they are doing the jobs is that they require less money. They couldn't afford what our consumer base here could have afforded if we had enough jobs. So who will things be sold to eventually?
It is really difficult to accurately track how many jobs are going overseas. Companies which export their services to foreign sources are not required to tell the U.S. Government how many jobs they are outsourcing. Also if they are trying to have a certain quota of applicants from the U.S. Just to keep up appearances, for awhile there, they even had on Youtube a seminar that showed some companies training people on how to find loopholes on hiring less U.S. Citizens for their companies, they will try to get out of it.
I am flabbergasted by the U.S. Auto industry's plan to shift production overseas. According to The Detroit News, website: "General Motors Corp. Will shift more production of vehicles bound for the U.S. market to China, Mexico, South Korea and Japan, but will keep total imports at roughly one-third of all sales here."
So basically, not only is the company going to be exporting more jobs, but also the taxpayers are paying for them to export more jobs. I don't think that this is okay.
This doesn't bode well for the American worker. As outsourcing becomes increasingly ubiquitous, it seems a necessity for some companies in order to stay afloat. The Philippines is the hot new place to go these days for a lot of corporations, and there is a lot of growth there in the outsourcing department. However, other places, like Europe, also see the same things U.S. CEOs have seen in outsourcing - a gold mine. So they are starting to compete with the U.S. for places to outsource. This trend supposedly might start bringing jobs home again, to our own country, helping our own fellow citizens find much-needed work.
Just this week, I went to a job orientation to work with the police department. There were 6 positions to fill. 160 people turned out for the orientation, only 87 of those people got interviews, the rest just had to verify their phone numbers. It was the largest group they had ever had show up. Today I went to a job interview for a leasing agent for a company here in Utah. At the end of the interview, I asked how many applicants they had had. They told me that they had over seventy for the one position. At least I got an interview. Utah is not immune to the effects of the jobless rate in the United States. While waiting with some of the other people at the orientation for the police department, some of us started talking about the job market. There was one woman who had been looking for a job for over six months and her unemployment was about to run out. This might not be such a common problem if fewer jobs were outsourced.
We need to bring jobs back home. For a list of companies that outsource (a huge list), you can go to this website. I think you will be surprised.
However, when everyone began to do this, well, some people in the U.S. didn't have jobs anymore. More and more jobs were cut and we began to see some economic troubles. The problems with people who do this, is that eventually, if you have no jobs, well you also can't buy things and you don't have a consumer base anymore. When people don't have jobs, they can't buy houses, if they have houses, they can't pay for them and have them foreclosed on. They can't buy cars (that are made in other countries for cheap labor, laying off employees here); they can't buy goods at all. This is just all common sense. When I found myself having to find another job, as the current was in the air at my customer service call center job that it was heading to the Philippines, I knew that it was hitting close to home. Also, I knew telecom and IT people who have had jobs taken, jobs that are now being handled by someone in India. For every job taken, there is someone that is in the unemployment line, someone who may be trying to support a family, pay a house payment, or get fed. The people who are being paid elsewhere also do not have enough money to afford what we would otherwise be buying. Remember, part of the reason that they are doing the jobs is that they require less money. They couldn't afford what our consumer base here could have afforded if we had enough jobs. So who will things be sold to eventually?
It is really difficult to accurately track how many jobs are going overseas. Companies which export their services to foreign sources are not required to tell the U.S. Government how many jobs they are outsourcing. Also if they are trying to have a certain quota of applicants from the U.S. Just to keep up appearances, for awhile there, they even had on Youtube a seminar that showed some companies training people on how to find loopholes on hiring less U.S. Citizens for their companies, they will try to get out of it.
I am flabbergasted by the U.S. Auto industry's plan to shift production overseas. According to The Detroit News, website: "General Motors Corp. Will shift more production of vehicles bound for the U.S. market to China, Mexico, South Korea and Japan, but will keep total imports at roughly one-third of all sales here."
So basically, not only is the company going to be exporting more jobs, but also the taxpayers are paying for them to export more jobs. I don't think that this is okay.
This doesn't bode well for the American worker. As outsourcing becomes increasingly ubiquitous, it seems a necessity for some companies in order to stay afloat. The Philippines is the hot new place to go these days for a lot of corporations, and there is a lot of growth there in the outsourcing department. However, other places, like Europe, also see the same things U.S. CEOs have seen in outsourcing - a gold mine. So they are starting to compete with the U.S. for places to outsource. This trend supposedly might start bringing jobs home again, to our own country, helping our own fellow citizens find much-needed work.
Just this week, I went to a job orientation to work with the police department. There were 6 positions to fill. 160 people turned out for the orientation, only 87 of those people got interviews, the rest just had to verify their phone numbers. It was the largest group they had ever had show up. Today I went to a job interview for a leasing agent for a company here in Utah. At the end of the interview, I asked how many applicants they had had. They told me that they had over seventy for the one position. At least I got an interview. Utah is not immune to the effects of the jobless rate in the United States. While waiting with some of the other people at the orientation for the police department, some of us started talking about the job market. There was one woman who had been looking for a job for over six months and her unemployment was about to run out. This might not be such a common problem if fewer jobs were outsourced.
We need to bring jobs back home. For a list of companies that outsource (a huge list), you can go to this website. I think you will be surprised.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
J Johnson
posted 7/03/09 @ 7:03 PM MST
I'm the victim of in-country outsourcing. I'm out of radio in 2 weeks. Our company went from a small town locally produced/sourced radio station to satellite programming. (Continued…)
Tamara M. Wright
posted 7/12/09 @ 2:38 PM MST
That is something that I did not touch on in my article, was also the jobs being squeezed out by technological advances. This was also talked about in college. (Continued…)
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