Outsourcing: Benefits to the U.S. Displaced with Jobs

Outsourcing jobs overseas is not only a painful issue for U.S. workers, but it is also a hardship on the U.S. economy. When jobs in the IT field were taken overseas, the new global economy realigned the workforce as never seen before. But now that outsourcing is occurring in fields other than IT, moving into the accounting and finance arena, what effect will this have in our arena?

As positions move overseas to countries where companies can employ workers at lower wages with little or no benefits to improve their own bottom lines, what effect will this have on the U.S. as a whole? I’ve always believed that with capitalism comes competition so that the best products are delivered to consumers, but I think it is important to make sure that there is a level playing field for everyone, and to see jobs shipped overseas to countries that do not provide basic benefits like healthcare, etc., seems detrimental to both workers and the U.S. economy. I think that U.S. businesses need to strike a balance between shipping jobs overseas to receive financial benefits and helping the quality of life and work within the U.S. This is not an easy problem to solve, but it is clear that greater thought is needed in this arena.

Ultimately, as the demand for workers increases overseas, their price will also increase. The H-1 B visa program, for example, brought many workers to the U.S. at a much lower cost to employers than hiring within the U.S. itself, but as the demand for these workers increased, their wages rose very rapidly. This is the strength of the free market, so it is inevitable that this will occur as U.S. jobs are shipped overseas and the demand for overseas workers increases. In the meantime, U.S. businesses need to come up find a creative way to strike a balance between pure cost savings versus a decrease in the U.S. lifestyle.