Overseas Technology Jobs

[belgareth]

There have

been threads in the past about this. I thought it was interesting that some of the people complaining are the same

ones whose companies are moving jobs overseas.


U.S. Could Lose Technology Dominance, Executives Say


Thu Jan 8, 7:20 AM ET

By Jonathan Krim, Washington Post Staff Writer

An organization of high-technology

executives yesterday renewed industry calls for government spending and tax cuts to spur research, improved

mathematics and science education and policies that make building technology infrastructure a national

priority.


With India, China, Russia and other countries rapidly becoming technology centers, the executives

warned that without such measures the United States could lose its dominance in the knowledge economy.


\"Our

competitiveness as a nation is not inevitable,\" said Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carleton S. \"Carly\"

Fiorina. At a press briefing alongside Intel Corp. chief executive Craig R. Barrett, Fiorina cited declining federal

government spending on research and development compared with other countries, as well as a kindergarten through

12th grade educational system that \"remains a source of competitive disadvantage.\"


Barrett also cautioned

against erecting global barriers to commerce, a response to mounting concerns that technology and other companies

are transferring tens of thousands of support center, data entry and software engineering jobs overseas to take

advantage of lower wages.


By some estimates by financial consulting firms, 10 percent of jobs at U.S.

information technology vendors will move offshore by the end of this year. Throughout all U.S. companies, Forrester

Research predicts the loss of about 3.3 million jobs by 2015.


Already, some Democratic presidential candidates

have criticized the practice. Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) has introduced legislation that would require employees

of call centers to identify their location.


Organizations of technology employees, many of whom remain out of

work after the post-tech-bubble downturn, argue that companies are simply reaping greater profits at the expense of

U.S. workers. In November, Indiana Gov. Joseph E. Kernan (D) canceled a $15 million contract with an outsourcing

firm that would have had engineers in India upgrading state computers, even though a domestic contractor cost

more.


Barrett, chairman of the trade group Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP), said such protectionist

responses endanger the ability of U.S. firms to compete. He said Intel hires overseas often to gain local expertise,

so that it can sell more products in those markets. Moreover, he said, migration of lower-paying jobs overseas is

hardly new and is part of a recurring business cycle. He noted that a sizable portion of technology hardware

manufacturing has moved overseas, without dire economic consequences.


Fiorina said that what is likely to occur

is a shift in the kind of technology jobs that will predominate in this country, such as those that requiring the

ability to manage multiple systems and networks.


She said the country cannot afford to be distracted by

short-term financial and employment concerns. \"The biggest barrier [to solutions] is our nation\'s attention

span,\" she said.


Fiorina insisted that the CSPP is \"not lobbying.\" But the group put forth several

proposals, and promised that its executives, who also include Michael S. Dell of Dell Inc. and Samuel J. Palmisano

of International Business Machines Corp., would continue visiting Congress and the White House throughout the year

to press its case.


Palmisano and Intel Chairman Andrew S. Grove have made similar appeals in the past six

months, under the banners of other trade groups.


Among the CSPP proposals is an Infrastructure Investment Act

of 2004, which would provide more favorable tax and regulatory rules to encourage building more broadband

networks.


The group also is pushing a Mathematics and Science Improvement Act of 2004, which would fund more

rigorous education and school-testing in math and science.


Fiorina said she could not estimate the cost of the

proposals. But Barrett said they would be less than the $30 billion in agriculture subsidies that he scorned as

investment in \"19th-century technology.\"

[EXIT63]

Here\'s a

source for math and science education funding:

Let\'s take all federal and state (ie taxpayer) moneys that

currently subsidize law schools in State University systems and re-direct those funds to math and science programs.



Why should taxpayers be footing the bill for generations of liars, ummm I mean lawyers who do nothing but suck

the lifeblood out of our country anyway?!

That money is better spent on math and science .

Let the future

leeches of America go to private colleges and pay the full price. They\'ll get a better education anyway.

[Pancho1188]

They

should just put the funding back into the public colleges that they took away...

My tuition went up by 10%

the past few years because of stupid funding cuts.

College students need to vote more... They\'re getting

completely screwed by the system during this recession.

[druid]

How bout we

stop giving all these multi-nationals their huge tax breaks by simplying the tax code and that money could be put

into states\' budgets and then put into public university\'s. Or better yet simply tax the sh-t out of them for

moving the tech jobs overseas and therefore elimating the incentive to learn tech here.

[EXIT63]

That won\'t

work.

[MysteriousMan]

Hi,

as a regular reader of The Register, I found this article

interesting:

Offshore IT jobs = higher

employment

I\'m sure, one can\'t apply this ecenomic model in every case of IT jobs, but in many

cases.

MysteriousMan

[druid]

I was gonna

make a sep. post, but this one will

suffice.

http://www.businessweek

.com/magazine/content/04_09/b3872001_mz001.htm