Introduction
Outsourcing of American jobs overseas is displacing American's in the United States. American blue-collar workers and the Middle Class American will soon be a word of the past if the US government continues outsourcing the low-skill jobs overseas.
One of the concerns in regards to the outsourcing of jobs is that wages of American jobs versus the wages of the Chinese, Japanese, Indians and Philippians are much less. If these workers were using the same identical technology and having the same identical skills were paid the same wages, there would be no problem. (Greene, 2006) It's also believed that if the US continues to trade freely with the overseas countries then the powerful drag of their far lower wages will begin dragging down American's average wages. (Greene, 2006)
Economist has found that tax cuts offered to large manufactures have caused productivity to go up. The manufactures are actually given tax breaks to be able to purchase more machinery to do the jobs and therefore fewer laborers are needed, causing a large number of workers to be displaced. The tax act that was initiated by Bush administration for big businesses was the "bonus depreciation". Under this act the more the companies spend on equipment the less the tax they have to pay.
The American economic recovery is several years old but yet jobs and workers income have failed to recover as it has in the past. It is estimate that the outsourcing of jobs is swiftly moving up the chain to skilled and specialist workers. The question remains is anyone safe from outsourcing? (Business Week p.26)
Overview
What is Outsourcing?
Outsourcing is transferring services or operating functions that are traditionally perf...
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... of all low-paid workers should be increased and that workers should have more rights to become involved in the union. (Greene, 2006)
Outsourcing should not be allowed to cause U.S. citizens to be jobless, or receive low wages due to business relocating their productions to other countries. Moreover, if free trades continues in the way that it is going, it will bring down America's average
wage. Furthermore, if big companies still keep getting tax breaks for buying machinery less and less workers will be needed, meaning, that people will be out of work. Additionally, if outsourcing keeps moving up the chain in taking skilled worker's jobs, (i.e. I.T. jobs, computer programming) there will be no jobs left for American workers. Lastly, if the government doesn't raise wages proportionally to productivity, consumers will not have any money to buy goods or services.
...hored, individuals, families, and communities suffer the negative economic consequences due to limited job availability. Most people who work in these industry sectors are blue collars, who are not professional or academically qualified to work in other fields, as a result their job choices are limited, especially when the main industry in that community is to work in the stage of manufacturing. When there is massive unemployment within a single community the loss of manufacturing jobs can threaten consumers, creating other problems in the society that result in economic costs. Such problems may spiral into the loss of one's car or home, personal debt, and the lack of economical means to afford a child's education, thus continuing the cycle of economic poverty. These aforementioned consequences are indirect and important economic effects of offshoring American jobs.
Mankiw and Swagel (2006) argue outsourcing is not as large a phenomenon as the media describes. Their research indicates outsourcing accounts for very little of job loss in the United States, nor has it made a distinct contribution to the slow rebound of the labor market. They go on to propose that increased overseas employment has actually contributed to higher employment in parent United States companies. They reported that while 30,000 jobs were lost per month in 2004, two million job changes per month were happening as well. They reference the Bureau of Labor Statistics when they report that in 2015 there are expected to be 3.4 million jobs outsourced, but 160 million jobs gained here in the United States. They also claim that there is a rise in net US income by 12-14 cents per dollar of outso...
Off-shoring is the establishment of business operations outside national boundaries. The process of moving business outside these boundaries is to garner an advantage either through tax breaks, lower wages, lower transportation cost and/or relaxed regulations ("Offshore definition," 2014). Many firms either branch out as a horizontal multinational or vertical multinational. Horizontal multinational’s produce the same good or services as abroad. This foreign direct investment (FDI) is done to strategically place production closer to the target market. Doing this provides advantages surrounding transportation cost while enhancing learning associated with local needs. A vertical multinational is one that fragments a portion of its good to take advantage of lower cost (i.e. cheap labor). Markusen and Maskus found horizontal multinational replaces trade whereas, a vertical multinational positively correlates with trade (Markusen & Maskus, 2001).
Outsourcing is a complicated and a multifaceted subject that involves a “business[’s] purchase of parts or labor from another company rather than maintaining a sufficient enough number of its own employees to do the same work in the country where the company is already based” ("Outsourcing"). The first practice of outsourcing was in medieval times when “nation-states called in soldiers-for-hire to help their own military forces during ongoing conflicts” ("Outsourcing"). Many think of outsourcing as a one way trade of production facilities moving outside of a companies locale but in actuality it is a two way trade that also involves companies from other areas moving their factories to local areas where conditions are beneficial for the specific business. Outsourcing has evolved but the main idea has remained the same. The recent increase in outsourcing “was initiated by Wall Street pressures on corporations . . . . for increased profits . . . in the production of goods and services marketed in the U.S."(Roberts).
Zhang, Ting. "International Outsourcing And Unemployment In A Minimum-Wage Economy." Review Of International Economics 19.4 (2011): 776-786. Business Source Premier. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.< http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.gatekeeper2.lindenwood.edu/ ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b295036e-d1cf-4835-97be-785c1702a15c% 40sessionmgr4001&vid=3&hid=4208>.
Since the concept of outsourcing was introduced it has been a subject of debate between politicians and citizens of the United States. Remarkably, it was the United States who supported outsourcing and now it is the United States that feels its economic progress is being threatened by outsourcing. One may argue that the financial situations that existed two decades earlier are not the same as they are today, thus the change of time, business priorities of economies have also changed.
In recessions of the past the American worker was laid off with the impression they would be rehired as soon as demand for goods and services were presented again. Now people in jobs from computer programmers to telephone operators are losing their jobs and never returning to the same field again. The big issue here is that if we continue outsourcing specific jobs overseas we could erase a whole industry of job opportunity from the American people. Economists say the framework of the U.S. labor force has been changed due to past outsourcing of jobs by this country. The more outsourcing that continues the more our job force’s structure will change. As a result, the American worker can no longer wait to be rehired into the same job or profession. Using their time while unemployed, Americans are retraining themselves and attempt to step into an entirely different career.
Members of organized labor and Unions sacrificed much in the strive for higher wages. Workers were paid very poorly and did not make enough money to fully support themselves and their families. For example in modern times, citizens in New York City hold protests to raise hourly wages to a minimum of fifteen dollars an hour. Throughout time Union and labor workers have been paid poorly. Document A clearly shows evidence that although efforts were made, hours and wages were not changing as they should of been. Although the impact to change hour and wages didn't Chanel as much, it does not mean a great deal of effort was not made.
Turbulent times of a newly freed democracy bred a longing for civil liberties and birthed what would become equality for all. The United States of America, known for independence, has not always been balanced in its freedom. The labor movement in America was a significant step in developing equal opportunity. In the nation’s infancy, working conditions were abominable. Workers were underpaid, overworked, and abused. Women and children in the workforce were ubiquitous in certain industries, often earning far less than a man would. Countless laborers were injured or killed on the job, and there was no health insurance. If a worker was wounded while working, he or she would simply be replaced. As a result of the deplorable labor environment, unions
Do you ever wonder what our nations underlying focus is? The answer is simple and should be fairly easy to guess… Money! Outsourcing originated from someone coming up with the idea that we can make products for practically nothing in other countries and make very high profits. Although it seems like a great idea to businesses, it negatively affects our country. American consumers are buying these products that are made in other countries and the companies profits are continuing to rapidly increase. At the same time, people that are in the production field of work in America are losing their jobs because producers would rather pay foreign workers to get the job done for a much lower wage. When it comes down to it, one of the reasons our economy is suffering is because of outsourcing. Basically, it all comes down to money. The consumers don’t pay close enough attention to where the products are made. Therefore, consumers are spending extra money and are causing outsourcing to thrive. The lack of knowledge Americans have on the subject of consumers affecting outsourcing is leading our country to economic stress but if we begin to recognize the issue, the jobs we could potentially save may be our own.
Unions have an extensive history of standing up for workers. They have advocated rights of steelworkers, coal miners, clothing factory employees, teachers, health care workers, and many others. The labor movement is based on the idea that organized workers as a group have more power than individuals would have on their own. The key purpose of any union is to negotiate contracts, making sure workers are respected and fairly compensated for their work. “In theory” unions are democratic organizations, resulting in varying inner authority. Workers look for security within a job a...
Outsourcing has been around for many years. In this paper I will discuss some of the history of outsourcing, the goods things about outsourcing, and the bad things about outsourcing.
Large corporations seeking the extra dollar to pocket are willing to spend whatever it takes to reduce the cost of production and increase profit margins. Doing whatever it takes in some instances can help men moving operations overseas to developing countries who are glad to be working. These developing countries unemployment rates are extremely high, so any job that pays is great to have. Americans lose jobs to foreign workers because the American economy is one of the largest in the world and its citizens enjoy great standards of living, when juxtaposed with a city of the same size in Taiwan. Labor costs play a huge and crucial role in corporations, which in turn pay the profits to the corporate giants who run, manage, and own the businesses.
We say that we are heading toward a more global economy because of the fact that competition in today’s markets is global. This means that corporations in the United States can compete in foreign markets and vice versa, therefore U.S. corporations and foreign corporations become interdependent and thrive off each other. This can have a good impact on the United States because it allows U.S. corporations to seek materials and labor outside of the U.S. in countries such as China, India, and Mexico, where workers are paid a lot less money than U.S. workers, thus allowing them to sell their products for significantly cheaper than if they were produced in the U.S.; however, the tradeoff is that many American workers in the industrial sector lose jobs due to this shift of labor to overseas. In the long run this will be beneficial for the U.S. and although some percentage of workers are losing work, new jobs in the services sector, in fields such as computer technology, telecommunications, and language skills are opening up and experiencing growth because of this change.
When Americans hear the word “offshore outsourcing”, they automatically assume that Americans are losing their jobs to foreign countries. Most of these jobs that companies outsource such as the garment industry jobs are offshore outsourced because they are labor intensive jobs. According to Timmerman