Re: India - Wave of the Future?

["Brautigam, Curtis" <cubrautiga -at- state -dot- pa -dot- us>]

Since there are people on this list who are willing to raise the topic of
offshoring, I will provide my two cents worth. One of the most depressing
parts of my present job working in the labor market information business is
seeing jobs disappear, plants closing, and businesses laying people off.
Just the other day, a ball bearings company has decided to close a plant in
Central Pennsylvania that employs about 250 people and move some of the jobs
to Mexico. I feel really bad when a high-tech company decides to lay off
highly qualified U.S. workers and set up shop in a lower-wage country. India
is a good logical choice for offsoring technical communications because many
of its highly educated workers are extremely proficient in English (even
putting many native English speakers to shame). I do believe that as far as
technical communications are concerned, the offshoring options for many high
tech companies are limited, because of the English proficiency requirement.
These options mainly include India, the Philippines, Ireland, Israel, or
South Africa where English is widely spoken. The other offshoring candidates
that I have heard mentioned (China, Russia, Vietnam, Eastern Europe) don't
quite have the English-language proficient workforce as the former.

IMHO, globalization is a process that is very difficult to stop. The
undeniable fact is that we are living in an increasingly global economy.
Without the major technological breakthroughs of the 1980s and 1990s, IT
offshoring would not be a viable option. Unfortunately, there is a very dark
side to globalization--lost jobs in the developed countries as employers
seek cheaper wages elsewhere. I believe that it is time to stop seeing
globalization as a zero-sum game, and time to start seeing it as a plus-sum
game. The move of manufacturing, services, and IT jobs to developing and
transition-economy countries is positive in that it helps give an
opportunity for these countries to get out of poverty, and that it helps to
create new markets for companies in the developed world. This is a plus-sum
game. 

The question becomes--what should be done about the lost jobs in the
developed countries? The answer comes in policies that promote
entrepreneurship, business investment, technological innovation, and
workforce development in the developed countries. Protectionist measures of
any kind will not help, although there have been abuses in the H1B and L-1
visa programs (which should be curtailed). A number of U.S. Congressmen are
submitting bills that would give tax breaks to companies that keep jobs in
the United States. 

I know that globalization is a very sore topic during this "jobless
recovery." However, I do think that it should be discussed on TECHWR-L
because technical communications as a profession is increasingly affected by
globalization, whether we like it or not. 

Chaim Brautigam
Descriptive Statistician 1
Center for Workforce Information
PA Department of Labor and Industry
cubrautiga -at- state -dot- pa -dot- us