THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 124, June 6, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
AMERICA'S JOBS ARE DISAPPEARING
By Alan Caruba
INTERNATIONAL TRADE, THE OUTSOURCING OF AMERICAN JOBS, THE MASSIVE INFLUX OF IMMIGRANTS INTO THE U.S.A.
& THE COMING ECONOMIC DISASTER, A PERMANENT DECLINE IN THE AMERICAN ECONOMY -- HOW U.S. GOVERNMENT POLICY
FIGURES INTO THE EQUASION: FLAWED IMMIGRATION MEASURES, INEFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT OF U.S. IMMIGRATION
LAW, & THE U.S. GOVERNMENT'S GENERATION OF AN ENDLESS FLOW OF REGULATIONS THAT BURDEN & IMPEDE EVERY KIND &
SIZE OF AMERICAN BUSINESS ENTERPRISE, ADVERSELY AFFECTING ITS ABILITY TO COMPETE WITH ITS FOREIGN EQUIVALENTS
FULL STORY:
The curse of Cassandra was that she could predict the future, but that no one would believe her.
Ron and Anil Hira have written Outsourcing America ($22.00, Amacom), a book about the way American jobs will be leaving
thousands, possibly even millions, unemployed -- while low-paid, but well educated, workers in India, China and elsewhere replace
them. This is likely to be one of those warnings that are going to go largely ignored, until it is too late.
University of California economists who have looked at the current job scene and calculated which of those jobs can be done
elsewhere for less have issued a report suggesting that nearly one in nine of all U.S. jobs are vulnerable to being outsourced. That’s
a staggering 14 million white-collar jobs. The 2004 UC report predicts that, by 2015, approximately 3.5 million white-collar jobs
representing $151 billion in wages will move overseas. By the end of this year, the report sees 830,000 jobs leaving.
Who is embracing this enticing way to save money? American companies for whom the requirement to compete in the global
marketplace virtually demands they take advantage of this option. The jobs affected include those in information technology,
call-center operators, accounting, architecture, medical and legal services, and high-level engineering design. By 2008, an estimated
700,000 jobs in customer service and the corporate back-office will move to India.
Even the federal government and some state governments have begin to outsource public sector jobs, including welfare and food stamp
service jobs.
The Internet and the ability to move information by telephone anywhere in the world is the primary reason for this, but it must be said
that Asian nations have been concentrating for years on high standards of education to catch up and compete with the West. They
have longterm strategic goals, while we in the West concentrate on the next quarterly report. As a result, there is an endless supply of
educated, under-employed workers in India and China.
We think we are living in a global, free-trade world of endless possibilities, but this ignores the fact that Asian governments, such as
those of China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, have policies that are designed to help certain of their industries for the
precise purpose of enabling those industries to compete effectively with similar industries in the U.S.A. By contrast, the U.S.
government cannot seem to stop generating an endless flow of new regulations that burden and impede every kind and size of
American business enterprise, adversely affecting its ability to compete with its foreign equivalents. It is estimated that the cost of
complying with these regulations costs Americans $800 billion a year.
One only has to look at the nation’s huge trade deficits to conclude that something is very wrong with the way we do business with
the world. This is not a call for tariffs or other obstacles, but it is a call for the reduction of government mandates that make it difficult
to compete.
As out-sourcing increases, American college and university students are beginning to take note. Enrollment, for example, in computer
science dropped twenty percent in 2003-2004. Why pursue a career in technological fields, engineering and other demanding
professions, when people on the other side of the globe who can afford to earn less are able to do these jobs? Wages in developing
nations like India and China are ten to twenty percent less than those U.S. workers must earn.
Need it be said that, as more and more jobs are out-sourced, a great pool of unemployed Americans will occur? Do not make the
assumption they will find other jobs. As the authors of Outsourcing America point out, “The track record for the
reemployment of displaced US workers is abysmal.”
Now add the vast horde of illegal aliens flooding the U.S.A. to take jobs in the construction industry and other enterprises. Consider
the fate of countless lawn care or janitorial services companies who cannot compete with those who employ illegal aliens. Consider
the $20 billion Mexicans sent home last year, an amount larger than Mexico’s revenues from oil and tourism.
While jobs at the low end of the wage scale disappear for Americans, so too are jobs held by the middle-class. The worse part of all
this is that the U.S. government is doing nothing to address either the outsourcing losses or immigration problems. Even now the
White House keeps calling for “guest worker” programs that, for migrant labor, makes sense, but not for the other jobs Americans
would gladly fill. There are already programs that allow foreign white-collar workers to come here and replace higher paid U.S.
workers.
There are some indicators that American companies have discovered that out-sourced call centers are a turn-off for many American
consumers, but this is cold comfort for the countless unemployed Americans, including the 1.8 million college graduates who join the
labor force each year.
The result is predictable. Unemployed U.S. workers will pay no taxes, nor will they be buying all those foreign-made products that fill
the shelves in American malls. They will not be contributing to retirement savings programs or pension funds that would otherwise be
used to invest in new business ventures.
This is a calamity already for those who must compete for blue-collar jobs, and it is going to be the same for the middle class. The
ripple effect on the American economy will be widespread and awful.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Government & the Economy
Immigration & Illegal Aliens
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
© Alan Caruba 2005
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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