American Techno-Politics

Offshore Outsourcing

According to groups like the ITAA offshore outsourcing creates jobs and helps the economy. Although I am no economist, as an IT professional it is clear that offshoring results in a net loss of jobs. Industry pundits claim that more jobs are being created, but do they pay as much and who are they going to? The fact is that many jobs not going offshore are filled by non-immigrant visa holders on a H-1B or L1 visa. According to a study by John Miano of the Programmers Guild, these workers are on average paid 20% less than their American counterparts.

There are clearly inequities in our system that result in both immigrants and Americans being abused or losing job opportunities. The industry claims a shortage of qualified labor, however their own practices are causing students to stop enrolling in Computer Science curriculums. Some universities have reported a 60% drop in CS students and now we are seeing some schools drop the programs all together.

There is no single answer to this problem. Our nation needs to adopt trade policies that reverse the practice of sending high-tech jobs to other nations --services should be part of trade agreements. These jobs give our nations an advantage and allowing them to go harms our nation.

Additionally, immigration laws need to prevent Americans from being replaced by low-wage earners. If there is truly a shortage companies should have no problem paying prevailing wages, and they should prove this through independent auditors.

Immigration laws should be designed with the realities of trade in mind as these two issues are closely related. In order to send jobs offshore, companies need visas for their employees. Companies that send jobs offshore should not be able to use the H-1B or L1 non-immigrant visa programs to facilitate that practice. BPO firms like Infosys and Tata should not share in these visas, as they clearly want to send business to India and not keep it in the United States.

Finally, companies should be rewarded with tax incentives for keeping jobs in the United States, and companies that offshore should be penalized.

posted by R. Lawson @ 12:41 PM