Atrios has a post about how blindly some believe that the economy is turning around. Jobs have disappeared and are not coming back any time soon.
In a downturn, most companies do tighten the proverbial belt. They streamline processes, lay workers off, and reign in spending. But this time is different. Offshoring jobs is nothing new. Manufacturing jobs have been going over seas for two decades. The difference now is that they're white collar jobs.
Being an election year, the issue of off-shoring jobs will be a big one. Even Republicans won't be able to ignore the job loss stories from their home state/district. This beast was a long time in the making, and there's no stopping it now. Once companies become "addicted" to the lower costs related to sourcing to places like India, they will stick with it.
The key now will be to stem the loss. This month's issue of Fast Company details the stories of IT related workers who lost their jobs. Some of them have been out of work for a long time. But what I found most disgusting was that some people are forced to train their replacements.
The last time this happened, the manufacturing jobs were replaced with white collar jobs. But now those jobs are disappearing, too. Who will benefit the most? Wal-Mart and McDonalds, who will soon be hiring these out of work IT people who are desperate for a job.
Comments (2)
This is a very scary thing that is happening. Hopefully, companies will come to their senses and realize that for the economy as a whole we need to keep middle class Americans employed and if not Kerry can come into office and stop this. I know Bush will not do it because he only cares about putting more money in the pockets of the rich and this will do it.
Posted by Christine Jamieson | March 10, 2004 3:36 PM
Posted on March 10, 2004 15:36
Especially scary for those in the financial analyst industry.
Posted by sean | March 10, 2004 3:57 PM
Posted on March 10, 2004 15:57