Re: Outsourcing issue flares up at Stanford chip conference

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Excerpt from the article:

But Ron Hira, an assistant professor of public policy at Rochester 
Institute of Technology and member of the IEEE Career and Workforce 
Policy Committee, took issue with those statistics. There have only been 
self-interested, industry-sponsored studies that don't tell much, he said.

"How much work has actually moved offshore? No one knows, because nobody 
has collected data on it. I think this is a major failing of government 
policy," Hira said. The Department of Commerce is doing a study, but it 
is unlikely to bring up new information because it is underfunded, he said.

Despite his criticism of the research, Hira said it is clear that 
offshore outsourcing is accelerating. "It is a really bad deal for 
workers," he said.

Carl Everett, a partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Accel 
Partners, argued that outsourcing offers an opportunity companies should 
take advantage of. By using offshore capabilities, they can bring a 
product to market faster and at a lower cost, which will increase 
profitability and ultimately generate jobs, he said.

Natasha Humphries has a different perspective. Humphries was laid off 
last year from PalmOne Inc. after having trained workers in Bangalore, 
India, to do her job as a software quality assurance engineer. 
"Increased profit margins will create new jobs, but they may not be in 
the U.S. and they may not pay as well," she said.

Humphries also noted wage depression as an effect of offshore 
outsourcing. Salaries of between $75,000 and $125,000 a year for 
individuals with her skills are no longer the norm. "My skills are still 
marketable, yet I can't market them at the same price," she said.

Some audience members appeared anxious about the prospect of losing 
their jobs to outsourcing. They chimed in with calls to panel members to 
pressure the U.S. government to take action against outsourcing. 
Questions were also asked about how to motivate students to study 
engineering when the job perspective is grim.

Rodgers of Cypress Semiconductor said taking a protectionist stance 
would ultimately cost more jobs than it would save because of a backlash 
by trade partners. "We will be a big loser and there will be a lot more 
people on the streets if you start attacking outsourcing," he said.

And when it comes to students, Cypress Semiconductor is hiring. "Our 
plan is to hire about 2,000 engineers over the next five years," Rodgers 
said. However, there is a caveat. "We will go wherever we need to go to 
find those engineers."

U.S. companies should create jobs in new areas such as biotechnology, 
nanotechnology and fuel cell technology, said Vinod Dham, cofounder of 
NewPath Ventures LLC, which invests in companies that do most of their 
work overseas. "Where is the next event that will create a boom in the 
market for jobs?" he asked.

Meanwhile, the California bill banning outsourcing for government 
agencies is expected to pass the state assembly, according to local news 
reports. The bill will then land on the desk of Governor Arnold 
Schwarzenneger, who has yet to take a position on it.



ziliath wrote:

> http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/08/24/HNoutsourcingissue_1.html