Outsourcing Times

Google Pledges No Outsourcing at the Googlunaplex (on the Moon)

As of April 1, Google is hiring.

"...'the Googlunaplex'... will be populated by a dedicated cadre of software engineers, hardware operations technicians, cable installers, quantum mechanics and space planners. Google is firmly committed to using only earth-originated staffers and no jobs will be outsourced to lunar residents or those from other planetary systems unless the skill sets they offer cannot be easily replicated by native born terrestrials."

Nobel Economist In Favor of Outsourcing

TechNewsWorld reports:

"A new study released this week by a Nobel Prize-winning economist dispels doubts raised by demagogic politicians on the campaign trail -- and in Congress -- about the impact of outsourcing on the U.S. economy, stating that outsourcing actually increases jobs and pay for IT workers.

"The report was released by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), a trade group located in Washington, D.C., and is titled 'The Impact of Offshore IT Software and Services Outsourcing on the U.S. Economy and the IT Industry.'

"'Global sourcing creates more jobs and higher real wages for American workers,' ITAA president Harris N. Miller told TechNewsWorld."

The data in the report, according to Miller, backs up his claim. Read more

Goodyear Dunlop Partners with IBM

Consulting News reports:

"Goodyear Dunlop Tires Europe – an affiliate of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, the world's largest tire company – has signed a 10- year business transformation outsourcing program with IBM worth an estimated 50 million Euros in cost savings in the first two years alone.

"The agreement to partner with IBM on a procurement-to-payment program for indirect supplies represents another step in the company's effort to reduce costs by $1.5 billion by the end of 2005."

New Outsourcing Report: American Jobs On the Way

The Taipei Times is running a story about a new report by the Information Technology Association of America. The report claims that although outsourcing has caused some American job losses, the numbers pale in comparison to those lost during the 2000 dot-com bust. Additionally, outsourcing is fueling economic growth and may actually result in net job growth.

"Greater profits theoretically allow companies to buy new equipment, build laboratories and conduct scientific experiments -- even in expensive Silicon Valley and other US tech hubs.

"Savings from outsourcing allowed companies to create 90,000 new jobs last year, with more than one in 10 of them in Silicon Valley or elsewhere in California, researchers said. The report predicts that in 2008, outsourcing will create 317,000 jobs -- 34,000 in California."

Slashdot: Q & A With Indian 'Geek'

Slashdot ran a Q & A session with a self-proclaimed Indian 'geek'.

"It is quite clear that the US companies are using the tactics of outsourcing purely for their own financial benefit... Every company around the world that outsources cheaper expertise and/or labour is doing just that... trying to get a competitive edge over its rivals by cutting costs." Read more

Indian Software Programmers: Their Story

Wired reports on the other side of the coin:

"Aparna Jairam of Mumbai... has the air of the smartest girl in class - not the one always raising her hand and shouting out answers, but the one who sits in back, taking it all in and responding only when called upon, yet delivering answers that make the whole class turn around and listen.

In 1992, Jairam graduated from India's University of Pune with a degree in engineering. She has since worked in a variety of jobs in the software industry and is now a project manager at Hexaware Technologies in Mumbai, the city formerly known as Bombay."

And, according to her, she doesn't want your programming job. Read more

IT Job Growth: There's Room for India, China AND the US

Credit to the Ecommerce Times:

"The angst about the loss of high-tech, white-collar jobs is busting out all over, from the covers of Time and BusinessWeek magazines to the stump speeches of presidential candidate John Kerry...

"Yet a growing number of experts are speaking up to argue that the 'offshoring' crisis is seriously overblown, particularly when it comes to information technology jobs.

"'Despite all this hysteria, we still grew IT jobs by 10 percent last year...'" Read more

Outsourcing Increases Trade Surplus

Sify reports:

"Contrary to the widespread fear of job loss due to offshoring to countries like India, globalisation of services has created trade surplus in IT services of the US from $2.1 billion in 1995 to $4.2 billion in 2002, according to a US thinktank Cato.

"US runs a trade surplus in the IT services, a sector directly affected by offshoring... the US trade surplus in these services has expanded from $2.1 billion to $4.2 billion, Cato Institute said in a trade briefing paper."

'Carricaburu: Legislation won't stop outsourcing'

From The Salt Lake Tribune:

"That Americans persist in viewing themselves as the center of the universe is nowhere more apparent than in the current clamor over the outsourcing of jobs overseas.

"Recognizing an exploitable vulnerability, politicians have responded. In Congress and some state legislatures, bills have been introduced that would require companies to disclose plans to move jobs overseas, rescind tax incentives awarded companies that send work abroad and prohibit government contracts with companies that export jobs."

State Should Resist Barriers

Courtesy of the StarTribune:

"For the sake of the overseas markets and overseas investments in Minnesota that the global economy promises, this state should not position itself behind protectionist barriers...

"Meeting and beating that competition will require a much larger public policy response than any rule governing state contracts. It will mean giving Minnesotans access to world-class education, shoring up the state's transportation infrastructure, and providing them with a safety net to see them through the job dislocation that goes with global economic change."