Offshoring - the snake that is eating itself.

[Le_Jacquelope]

I absolutely LOVE this…

@Mijin

I’ve been surprised by how many threads there are on SD that advocate protectionism (whether subtly or overtly).

The thing is, if you really can get exactly the same job done elsewhere for cheaper, it makes economic sense to do so. In the long run, countries that allow outsourcing (ok, with some regulation) will outperform countries that try to protect higher paid local workers.

It sucks, but ultimately people have to find somewhere else to apply their skills. And I’m saying that as an unemployed IT professional…

WRT America specifically, most analyses I’ve seen imply that the current very high unemployment is in large part down to twitchy markets, and won’t last.

New readers who come to this thread will notice that defenders of offshoring keep saying that offshoring will bring us a new species of jobs for America but they’ll also notice that no one has been able to explain why these jobs have NOT appeared.

Every day we hear about what companies are hiring for and the top 10 or top 20 job-producing industries and what jobs are fast growing, fastest growing jobs, etc. Jobs coming back, and on and on. But yet the unemployment rate isn’t improving. Why? Because the jobs coming back are not anything nearly enough. Job growth has been lagging behind population growth for the last ten years, and it still is.

Why are there so many threads here on SD that advocate protectionism? Because the defenders of offshoring are failing to make a credible case. More and more people are coming to oppose offshoring. We’re seeing through the bullshit that is the pro-offshoring argument.

It’s getting harder and harder to defend offshoring because its failings are becoming more transparent.