White Collar Sweatshops....You are Helping to Fund Them!!!

teenyuck

Interesting article in TIME magazine....

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101030804-471198,00.html

Where the Good Jobs are Going

Some Excerpts:

Jobs that stay put are becoming a lot harder to find these days. U.S. companies are expected to send 3.3 million jobs overseas in the next 12 years, primarily to India, according to a study by Forrester Research. If you've ever called Dell about a sick PC or American Express about an error on your bill, you have already bumped the tip of this "offshore outsourcing" iceberg. The friendly voice that answered your questions was probably a customer-service rep in Bangalore or New Delhi.

By taking advantage of lower wages overseas, U.S. managers believe they can cut their overall costs 25% to 40% while building a more secure, more focused work force in the U.S. Labor leaders

The next logical step, says Andrea Bierce, a co-author of the A.T. Kearney study, is jobs that require more complex financial skills such as equity research and analysis or market research for developing new business. Evalueserve, a niche outsourcing company in Delhi, already performs research for patent attorneys and consulting firms in the U.S. In April, J.P. Morgan Chase said it would hire about 40 stock-research analysts in Bombay — about 5% of its total research staff. Novartis employs 40 statisticians in Bombay who process data from the drug company's clinical research.

Playing the Savings Game As these average-salary figures show, outsourcing lowers costs

SOFTWARE PROGRAMMER
U.S. $66,100
INDIA $10,000

Mechanical Engineer
U.S. $55,600
INDIA $5,900

IT Manager
U.S. $55,000
INDIA $8,500

Accountant
U.S. $41,000
INDIA $5,000

Financial Operations
U.S. $37,625
INDIA $5,500

I guess you don't have to worry about getting that degree after all.

The point in the article: These are not unskilled jobs. These are highly skilled jobs that require education and experience.

Since the workers in India are making so much less than their US counterparts, can this be considered a white-collar sweatshop? Are Hollywood celebrities going to cry out for these workers in India making 15% (or less) of what their American counter parts are?

Are Americans going to not purchase a Dell computer because Dell is sending jobs overseas? Should Americans boycott Dell and other companies who do this to send a message?

Special K

Hey teenyuck

I watched a television program about this a month or so ago and how INDIA is the buzzing place where big corporations are setting up..not only because of cheap labour.. but also because of the cheap labour for highly trained workers. computers technology etc.

Boy .. it was interesting to see the wage of these workers for the same job in the U.S. What a big difference.

It's just another reason I don't like telemarketing phone calls. After I seen this on T.V. I wondered where they might be calling me from?

Interesting post, thanks.

Special K

teenyuck

I bought a Dell computer last year....I had no problems, so I had no reason to call.

I bought another Dell this year....the hard drive was fried upon delivery. I called and got a guy in India. He tried, however, his English was not great and he was losing patience with me....

I finally asked if he were in India or Pakistan...he hesitated and said India. I was surprised. I really thought he was going to be an exchange student here in the US.

This has been quietly happening for about 6 years. The artilce was eye opening.

Simon

Typical when Accountants run things - they know the cost of everything but the value of nothing.

Some big companies who were the first to outsource to Bangalore etc... have now pulled things back in-house as the savings were not what they imagined. Yes, it was cheaper and yes, it was crap.

Not the utopia they expected.

Elsewhere

[ Still doing temporary programming work and looking for a permenent position ]

It looks like we are going to "cost cut" America and all other weathly countries out of existence... then who will by all of the products that are being made over seas? I guess the over-seas workers will then have to be laid off too.

If this pattern continues, there will be massive foreclosures in the housing and business loan market... banks will collapse because they will be forced to sell foreclosed properties at enormous cuts (because so few people will be able to afford normal prices)... over-seas businesses will go under because there will be so few people who can buy the over-seas products... all leading to a massive world "great depression" with hyper-inflation everywhere. Business after business will merge until only a very few super-wealthy people will be left who will own and control everything.

lawrence

After designing and writing systems for over 25 years (Digital Equipment, Three Rivers Computers, Computer Corp of America, etc.) I watched the "family jewels" i.e. hardware & software given away - first to Japan, and now to India. Once upon a time (1982) there was only 1 man in the Congress that even understood how software worked. I wrote to him and he said it was good to share our technology. 20 years later I would like to ask Frank (N.J.) how good was it? Don't worry, if you can cook Punjab chicken you'll have a gig - mind you, these people still deal with the caste system, and see the white man (and woman) at the bottom rung of the ladder. (IMHO)

SixofNine

Sad if people find this more disturbing than blue collar sweatshops. What the hey, li'l brown people like to sweat, right?

You may not personally be a stupid lazy entitled American, but I bet you know alot who are. Just try to hire a fresh-out-of-high-school person to accomplish anything. Successes will be few and far between.

teenyuck

Just try to hire a fresh-out-of-high-school person to accomplish anything.

Personally, I've had very good success with the local lads....They are quiet accomplished...

Valis

The problem w/boycotting companies like Dell is you would only be dropping a pea in a sea of pods...All kinds of businesses outsource tech support and customer service....If you ever called Netscape you can bet you never got someone in Mountain View, California....and as long as we have 12 year olds in Asian countries cranking out cheap computer parts does it really matter anyway? I also believe that this strategy is good for countries where the average wage is a pittance, even to our own minimum wage. I think it just forces our companies to find better ways of doing things, especially if they are going to employ "in country" workers. Capitalist societies have always been for doing something cheaper if it can be done right and save money. There is no difference here, mostly just companies who can't or won't compete with foriegn competitors. The more our economies merge the more this will become the standard dynamic for businesses everywhere. I think we'll be going from poor country to poor country looking for the best deal on wages and workers. Eventually they will become players in the bigger global market and hopefully contribute more to the education and training of their own peoples. ...I would much prefer that to George W. going around shooting his way to democratization/capitalism anyway. Blah blah blah..

Sincerely,

District Overbeer

Francois

We hired about a dozen programmers at my last gig from India. Most of them had Ph.D.s and made considerably less than the programmers they replaced, all of whom had B.S. degrees and were Americans. Telling, ain't it? Lucky for me, they don't write worth a flip, most of 'em. Plus I'm about to retire.

But I'm afraid the kaka is on the wall for some of you. Unfortunately, some companies use the Indian option for help desk purposes, and most of the Indians I've ever run across can't speak English worth a damn, with that sing-song, poorly inflected, improperly emphasized speech and can't be understood. That's a big issue for help desk personnel.

White Collar Sweatshops....You are Helping to Fund Them!!!

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