Why Jobs Going Overseas Really Does Matter To Our Economy
August 27th, 2008 | by |How many times have you wondered if our economy is affected by all the jobs that have gone to India? When you call a service center whether it is to call for a tow truck or to check your credit card balance and the accent on the phone is definitely not familiar, the problem become even more evident. And while we don’t begrudge anybody getting and keeping a job, it is easy to wish those jobs were being filled by our citizens rather than someone in India.
The other side of the equation is that the many jobs that have gone overseas have helped the indian economy significantly. It doesn’t take much when watching the news to notice that many countries overseas including India, Pakistan and Vietnam have benefited tremendously from the move by our companies to “export” jobs somewhere that is more economical for them. But when we see other countries benefiting from jobs that used to be held down here, it could make you paranoid that something is going on that is not good for us.
There really is no question that the world economy has changed and that the shift of jobs is a big part of that. It is really easy to blame corporate executives for trying to cut corners by eliminating jobs here and giving them to other countries. This is a dilemma because any business makes decisions that is good for the business and this move is no doubt the result of business analysis, not some insidious attempt to hurt our country. At the same time, we want either the corporate big shots or our government to do something about the move of jobs so we don’t feel the pinch in our own economic well being.
Actually, the long term effect of this move of jobs on the Indian economy are not entirely well known. The appeal of moving jobs there is that the local workers are fairly well educated and able to handle somewhat technical work such as help desk or technical support. But because India is an emerging force in the economic world, the wages that our companies pay over there are low so they get a lot of “bang for their buck”.
The problem with how the currency of our economy is doing overseas doesn’t help things either. However, economic factors change. We are seeing our currency improve in value and that is hurting companies who moved jobs overseas. Also, as workers in India get used to the steady income, they are demanding higher pay which is reducing the savings gained by moving jobs there in the first place.
This gives us some reason for hope because as the Indian economy and the economic conditions of emerging nations continues to rise, that will eventually tip the balance in our favor and those jobs may come home where they belong. It is always hard to wait for that and you never know what is going to happen but the old principle of “what goes around, comes around” may play in our economic favor in the long run.
For more resources please also review this website http://www.economywatch.com/