"But For" Offshoring, Fewer IT Jobs in America

I read this article three times because I thought I was missing something. I'm not missing anything. It's simply that I don't buy the line of argument (not reasoning) employed. Read it yourself.

The offshoring of United States technology jobs will actually increase the number of American information tech jobs over the next decade, according to a new study released Tuesday by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA). "We think this study will change the entire debate on offshoring," ITAA President Harris Miller said at a press conference at the National Press Club here. "We have long held the position that global sourcing creates more jobs and higher real wages for American workers. Now we have the data to prove it."

The ITAA study predicts that the software and services sectors will create 516,000 jobs over the next five years in an environment with global sourcing. Without global sourcing, it predicts only 490,000 new jobs in the sector. Of those 516,000 new jobs, 272,000 will go offshore with the rest remaining in the U.S., the study said. That works out to a net of about 244,000 new jobs in the U.S., according to the study's findings.

Here is my take. The ITAA study says that IT jobs will be created in America because US companies are able to offshore a bunch of jobs to other places. They are making the same argument that is generally made by companies when they ask for handouts (excuse me, incentives). If it were not for (but for) offshoring, no jobs or fewer jobs would be created in the US. I guess the analysts doing the study made the assumption that if people already buy this line of argument in economic development circles, they'll buy it related to offshoring. Well, I don't buy it. The truth is that before offshoring we would have gotten the whole shoooting match, that is all 516,000 jobs. Duh.

Once again, I know that offshoring is a reality. And I know that companies save money by offshoring work. I just don't by the crap about offshoring helping to create jobs here in the US.

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