Chaos Magnet

Off-shoring as a win-win?

You know, I really don't have anything against Indian programmers or call centers, or anything like that, but I've got to take issue with a report that calls the sending of 3.3 million high-paying technical jobs overseas a "win-win" situation. A McKinsey Global Institute report, Offshoring: Is it a Win-Win Game? makes just that claim, on the theory that the US companies that pay $6/hour to an Indian programmer instead of $60/hour to a US programmer will have all of this extra money to pour back into the economy. Oh, and those 3.3 million workers? (Or non-workers, as the case may be...) "Targeted insurance products managed by businesses could be one way to lessen the pain to workers. This approach could help provide wages for those who lose jobs because of offshoring for an acceptable period of time. Given the large surpluses generated from offshoring, programs to address the impact on workers are feasible." Um ... excuse me, but if companies were interested in lessening pain to their workers, they wouldn't lay them off in the first place. This isn't about stimulating the economy, it's about the impossible cycle of growth a corporation has to maintain to keep it's stock price up.