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Most outsourced jobs don't leave U.S.

EagleKeeper

Discussion Club Moderator<br>Elite Member
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The bulk of outsourced jobs never leave U.S. shores, the government said on Thursday in a new report suggesting concerns over American workers losing jobs to cheaper foreign labor may be exaggerated.

"In more than seven out of 10 cases, the work activities were reassigned to places elsewhere in the U.S.," the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its report on mass layoffs for the January-to-March period.

Organized labor, critical of the administration's record on jobs, has promised to make outsourcing an issue in this year's presidential election.

While the figures offer the first official measure of the impact of outsourcing on U.S. employment, they count only layoffs at companies where at least 50 people filed for unemployment insurance during a five-week period and the layoff lasted more than 30 days.

That restriction means the figures do not capture the impact outsourcing has had on small businesses.

In the first three months of the year, 4,633 U.S. workers were laid off because their jobs were moved to a foreign country, the BLS said. That represents less than 2 percent of the mass layoffs that totaled 239,361 during that period.

The bolded statment may not be very crutcial. Most small business can not afford to outsource offshore. They may outsource work to other companies htat may be more efficient.

My gut feeling is that for every 3 jobs that are outsourced by small business, it supports 2 jobs, albeit at possibly lower wages. The difference is what the original company can do with the freed up labor and overhead $$$.
 
Outsourcing is like free trade, if you support free trade then you must support outsourcing.

I bet if Reagan was a alive today he would support outsourcing. And most conservative economists think outsourcing is good for America in the long run.
 
Outsourcing is too overblown. You see the immediate costs: company laying off people and moving the jobs overseas, but you ignore the benefits which come later: the maintaining of cheap prices on goods like at Walmart.

Anyway outsourcing happens with free trade. Its what the government does to help the people that lose their jobs to outsourcing that is important, like retraining them for a different field or something. Outsourcing isn't the problem with why we're having a "jobless recovery".
 
Originally posted by: maddogchen
Outsourcing is too overblown. You see the immediate costs: company laying off people and moving the jobs overseas, but you ignore the benefits which come later: the maintaining of cheap prices on goods like at Walmart.

Anyway outsourcing happens with free trade. Its what the government does to help the people that lose their jobs to outsourcing that is important, like retraining them for a different field or something. Outsourcing isn't the problem with why we're having a "jobless recovery".

Well said
 
Hehe.

I work for a company.

Our biggest account offshored one of its divisions to a canadian company.

The canadian company opened a plant in the the local area.

The canadian company is now our biggest account.

Wonder how something like that would fit into the offshoring statistics?

😕
 
From Maddogchen-

Outsourcing is too overblown. You see the immediate costs: company laying off people and moving the jobs overseas, but you ignore the benefits which come later: the maintaining of cheap prices on goods like at Walmart.

Yeh, and you also ignore the downward pressure on wages from layoffs and unemployment, not to mention employment policies of outfits like walmart... "New" jobs are currently paying ~13% less than average... and the price of necessities like housing, energy, healthcare continue to spiral upward...

It's not exactly rocket science to extrapolate the trend... it's called a squeeze play. Meanwhile, corporate profits continue their rise, along with executive compensation and % of total wealth held by the most affluent Americans...

Trickle down? more like trickle up...
 
And most conservative economists think outsourcing is good for America in the long run.

This is true, and I'm sure this thinking isn't limited to conservative economists. But 'good for America' and 'in the long run' can mean a lot of different things. Steps need to be taken to reduce the negative impact this has over the short term. Eventually the shift will naturally balance itself out and it will be an advantage to everyone, but there's no telling how long it will take for that 'eventually' to get here and a lot of damage can be done before it does. If it takes too long and those people who get screwed can no longer benefit from the advantage it brings then they are screwed for good. And this doesn't happen to the big corporations with deep pockets than can ride through the rough times, it happens to the small businesses that go under and the workers that get stuck in in lower quality jobs for the rest of their lives.
 
Originally posted by: nutxo
Hehe.

I work for a company.

Our biggest account offshored one of its divisions to a canadian company.

The canadian company opened a plant in the the local area.

The canadian company is now our biggest account.

Wonder how something like that would fit into the offshoring statistics?

😕

It is thing like that which make me call BS on the study. In addition to no possible way to count the number of jobs moved offshore it completely ignores jobs that are created offshore. Like if a company is expanding in china instead of the US.
 
This is just an argument of semantics. Years ago, outsourcing only meant moving jobs to other companies in the US. It's only very recently that outsourcing has come to also mean moving jobs out of the nation. That sort of outsourcing is also called offshoring but people just don't like that word a whole lot it seems.
 
Originally posted by: Spencer278
Originally posted by: nutxo
Hehe.

I work for a company.

Our biggest account offshored one of its divisions to a canadian company.

The canadian company opened a plant in the the local area.

The canadian company is now our biggest account.

Wonder how something like that would fit into the offshoring statistics?

😕

It is thing like that which make me call BS on the study. In addition to no possible way to count the number of jobs moved offshore it completely ignores jobs that are created offshore. Like if a company is expanding in china instead of the US.

Exactly, more Bullsh1t from the Rich Boy and Fearless Liar Clubs. :roll:
 
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: Spencer278
Originally posted by: nutxo
Hehe.

I work for a company.

Our biggest account offshored one of its divisions to a canadian company.

The canadian company opened a plant in the the local area.

The canadian company is now our biggest account.

Wonder how something like that would fit into the offshoring statistics?

😕

It is thing like that which make me call BS on the study. In addition to no possible way to count the number of jobs moved offshore it completely ignores jobs that are created offshore. Like if a company is expanding in china instead of the US.

Exactly, more Bullsh1t from the Rich Boy and Fearless Liar Clubs. :roll:

Dave, you are a charter member of the fearless liar club..
 
Originally posted by: Crimson
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: Spencer278
Originally posted by: nutxo
Hehe.

I work for a company.

Our biggest account offshored one of its divisions to a canadian company.

The canadian company opened a plant in the the local area.

The canadian company is now our biggest account.

Wonder how something like that would fit into the offshoring statistics?

😕

It is thing like that which make me call BS on the study. In addition to no possible way to count the number of jobs moved offshore it completely ignores jobs that are created offshore. Like if a company is expanding in china instead of the US.

Exactly, more Bullsh1t from the Rich Boy and Fearless Liar Clubs. :roll:

Dave, you are a charter member of the fearless liar club..

Oh really? Where did I misplace my billions???
 
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