White Collar Jobs Will NOT Return

There is some very sobering news in a recent article published by Economy.com on the outlook for U.S. white collar job growth.

"A large number of jobs lost in the U.S. and Western Europe during the latest economic slowdown will never return. These jobs have migrated to other countries because many companies, in an attempt to trim costs, have either moved or outsourced their back-office operations to countries with lower costs and comparable workforces. What happened to blue-collar jobs in the 1980s is now happening to white-collar jobs thanks to the global reach of information technology. On the flip side, a growing, prosperous middle class in the developing world means higher exports of goods and services for the U.S. and Western Europe and a tighter integration of the global economy."

The article assesses the damage in terms of white collar job loss and gives the reasons why. In a nutshell, low costs and the ability to produce comparable quality work explain why India, China and the Philippines have made such huge in-roads in this market. The outsourcing trend that gained momentum in 2000 is expected to continue, which is not good news for U.S. communities and states that have major business service concentrations and hope to grow them in the future.

Check out the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) website and download its 2003 Strategic Review report by clicking here.

Article link.