When our elected officials enacted various trade agreements – the most auspicious being NAFTA – they did so in the hopes it would promote trade while saving jobs at home. Well, they were half right. Our trade has increased around the world as more and more people are introduced to McDonalds and Chevrolets. But the promised jobs have yet to materialize, and it’s not just the factory worker that’s slinging hash and working in warehouses these days.
These, regardless of election year rhetoric, America’s leaders concede that outsourcing is not only here to stay but that it is still in its developmental stages. The movement of jobs overseas has been increasing exponentially year after year forcing workers, both blue collar and professional, to scramble for low paying service jobs while they decide whether to retrain or try to start their own businesses in what few occupations are still immune to outsourcing.
That’s right. Outsourcing isn’t limited to only large multinational corporations anymore. Chances are your local hospital, insurance company and, yes, even your friendly CPA are most likely off-shoring some of their back office processes to India, Singapore or maybe even China. In these and other countries around the globe there are armies of newly minted college graduates with skills just as good as their American counterparts and with just as much enthusiasm – if not more – who are willing to do the same entry level work for one tenth the salary.
