More high-end American jobs being outsourced to India

[OhioChick]

10/16/2008 12:00:00 PM PDT


CHENNAI, India — The sari-clad graphics designer knows nothing about American football. But there she was, putting the finishing touches on an automobile dealership ad tied to the kickoff of the NFL season for a New York newspaper.

She goes by only one name, Vijayalakshmi, and she is the face of the new global worker. She and her colleagues at 2AdPro Media Solutions, a two-year-old start-up, create ads for scores of U.S. newspapers at assembly-line speed in this steamy, sun-beaten coastal city that aims to be a global publishing hub.

Across India, a new, sophisticated outsourcing industry is emerging, one that requires skills well beyond those needed for traditional call-centers. And it extends well beyond publishing work.

"Anything that can be outsourced is being outsourced today in India," said Rajdeep Sahrawat, vice president of Nasscom, or the National Association of Software Service Companies, an Indian software industry trade organization that closely monitors trends in outsourcing.

The emergence of this new outsourcing industry is a cause for anxiety among some American workers. The liberal think tank Economic Policy Institute said as many as 18 percent of all California jobs — mostly white-collar work — are candidates for offshoring.

The labor-backed California Fair Trade Coalition said virtually any job that uses a computer could be outsourced, and it argues that U.S. trade laws should be changed to make it more difficult for companies to send work overseas.

More: http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10736776

I have an idea........Let's ship all of our white collar jobs to India and our manufacturing jobs to China and we'll all work at McDonalds........On, that's right, we're already doing that. :grr:

[marmar]

1. Maybe the plan is to have us all go back and work the fields.....

..... to provide food for the rest of the world, where people will actually have money. ..... Then we can work up to making athletic shoes at slave wages.

[OhioChick]

2. Probably so...

Nothing surprises me, anymore. Maybe I'll be making Nikes for 3 bucks a day soon.

[Azlady]

3. My blood is boiling!!!

Is it just me or has there been a MAJOR increase, almost like a PUSH to get OUR jobs shipped over seas over the couple of weeks????????.... it is like a hugh flood of jobs going to India/China! Then to read this, makes me wonder what all of our american futures are....ummmmm there are some fast food restauarnts that when you use the drive up... guess where the worker is that is taking your order.................... INDIA!!!!!!! So there you go....... How do we do a reverse sourcing back into the country/??????? How do we protect our american jobs, keeping them here, for american workers?

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[antigop]

4. What's amazing to me is how little response these posts get on DU.

I'm really curious as to what DU'ers do for a living that they think their jobs can't be outsourced?

K&R.

[OhioChick]

10. No one gives a rat's ass unless it's their job.

It amazes me how "some" think that you're a racist/xenophobe for being against outsourcing/offshoring.

[OhioChick]

15. I agree with poster #6

Tax the hell out of companies that outsource and close the loopholes used.

[ChromeFoundry]

16. The only way to reverse outsourcing

is for the American people to actually give a squat and boycott, protest and let it be known that we are not going to stand for this anymore. Until that happens, companies are rewarded for these actions. How many kids have to die or become sick from tainted toys; How many pets have to die from kidney failure from poisoned food; How many more jobs must we lose before America wakes up?

[OhioChick]

17. With the unemployment rates on a continual rise

With no end in sight, it's only a matter of time before citizens take to the streets.

[antigop]

5. They want to destroy the middle class and have a feudalistic society. n/t

[MikeNearMcChord]

6. I would like to see, tariffs increased and punishment taxes

imposed on companies that outsource jobs.

[blue97keet]

7. A rush to make things worse

It seems like whenever there is a squeeze on big business profits or a bad economy there is a rush to offshoring to "cut cost" and just make the whole downturn worse.

[OnionPatch]

8. This hits home for me.

I'm lucky I still have my job at a software company. If we didn't do some restricted projects (US classified work can't be outsourced) I'd be completely out of work. Almost all of the type of work I've done for the last 15 years is gone now to India. And they told me to retrain in computers when I lost my job in the steel industry. What now, burger-flipping training?

[ihavenobias]

9. Well what do you expect, unemployment in the US is just SO low!

;)

[AdvancedProgress]

11. This Pandora's Box will be difficult to close.

We've already allowed for MASSIVE outsourcing. Why do we do it? For cheaper prices. We have come to expect lower prices for all types of goods and services. If a purchaser is given a quote based on on-shore labor and then receives another for off-shore, the costs tell the entire story and they will go with off-shore (unless they TRULY are willing to pay considerably more on principle).

[OhioChick]

12. I agree with poster #6.

"We" didn't allow for massive outsourcing, but rather our corporate masters have.

[AdvancedProgress]

13. Very True

I should clarify that I deal with projects that must go out to bid, and those that have outsourced costs almost always win the contract strictly based on price. It will be very hard for someone in a purchasing position to explain to their bosses that they spent an extra $100,000 on a bid just because it's onshore. Don't get me wrong, I ABSOLUTELY hate that this is what its turned into, quicker turnaround and lower quality.

[OhioChick]

14. "quicker turnaround and lower quality."

You're absolutely right.

[Skittles]

18. of all the outsource people I deal with on a nightly basis

India is the WORST

[OhioChick]

21. I'd have to agree...

In my field, a good majority are from India.

[Oldtimeralso]

19. There Is Blue Collar Outsourcing Too

All of The US's major airlines are off-shoring alot of heavy maintenance checks and many overhauls of major equipment, avionics, engines etc. FAA Inspection is a joke, undermanned and cronyism with airline management.

edited for spelling

[machI]

20. Kick