(SF Bay Area's) white-collar job loss could become worst in nation

[Newsjock]

truncated title
A very lengthy multi-part report in Sunday's SF Chronicle.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/03/07/OFFSHORING.TMP

Jobs are more likely to be shipped overseas from Silicon Valley than any other region in the nation, placing the Bay Area's economic engine directly in the path of the global freight train known as offshoring.

Specifically, 1 in 6 jobs in Silicon Valley are at risk of being sent abroad, compared with only 1 in 10 positions nationwide, according to researchers at UC Berkeley. The economists estimate that 1 in 7 San Francisco jobs could be exported.

... "When you can get great talent at 20 percent of the costs, it isn't about waving the American flag. It's about doing what's right to have a good company," said Carol Bartz, chief executive and chairman of Autodesk Inc., a San Rafael software firm. The company announced last fall that it will cut as many as 650 employees, even as it was hiring at its new development center in Shanghai.

... "Nothing short of nuclear war between India and Pakistan is going to change the shape of the curve,'' said John McCarthy, a Forrester Research analyst who came up with the firm's offshoring prediction.

lots more

[alittlelark]

1. Nuclear war between India and Pakistan

we would have no one to call for tech support!!! If * and the cabal is desperate, why not?

[The Zanti Regent]

2. Oh I am sure Ireland and Israel will step in

It pays to divest...

[Mountainman]

3. My stock answer whenever someone from India calls me about an account

"I do not talk to people in India who have taken a job away from an American." I then hang up and if they call again they get the same message.

I remember going to Fremont, CA in the 90's and seeing help wanted ads on all the high tech firm's buildings. Sad state of affairs.

[Frederic Bastiat]

13. It's American companies that offshore

Taking it out on Indian workers is infantile.

[Barkley]

4. And Arnold thinks Bush can win California ...

Get real!

[alittlelark]

5. AHHHNOLD is afool

perhaps he had a brain before steroids, but who knows??

[xchrom]

6. writing on the wall

right now the experts tell us these jobs as opposed to manufacturing jobs are less likely to be outsourced, offshored, whatever -- but i think you can see the future in these numbers.
leaving the economic health of the country strictly up to capitalists is foolish, they will serve only their own interests and not the interests of the whole country.

[Dogmudgeon]

7. Hey, Shrub!

Mind if I off-shore my TAXES?

--bkl

[The Zanti Regent]

8. but Tom Friedman sees nothing wrong with jobs going overseas

In fact he cheers it on. Look at his latest bullshit in the Screw York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/07/opinion/07FRIE.html?hp

I hope Tommy gets outsourced too!

[anarchy1999]

9. And this comes as some surprise?

The writing has been on the wall for years. No one wanted to pay attention until it came home to roost and hurt their own selves. As long as it was "blue collar" it was okay. Well, Welcome to the white collar world of outsourcing and downsizing, guys. Maybe you should have paid attention when it was just "blue collar, mfg'ing jobs", you should have seen it coming.

There is nothing more resistant to change than change itself.

I hope the "white collars" decide they might need the "blue collars" before it is too late. Or we can all believe in retraining ourselves for new service sector jobs (medical, bio, geriatrics, building burgers, and how to say welcome to WallyWorld/Disney in a nicer way).

Thank god we don't have to use math anymore................
The machines do it for us.

[DBoon]

10. The "Humans in SF are an endangered species" joke

Quoting:

As reported in today's Orlando Sentinel, Bush was looking at a map during a discussion about environmental issues and wildlife when he commented, "it looks like the people of San Francisco are an endangered species, which may not be a bad thing. That's probably good news for the country."

These guys aren't kidding are they?

see
http://www.house.gov/lantos/releases/PR_031113_jebsbadjoke.html

[rfkrocks]

11. It really won't be bad in SF

because none of those white collar people will get social security and there will be plenty on manufacturing jobs they can be readily trained to do-"hold the pickle, hold the lettece, white collar employees won't upset us"

[bloom]

12. maybe we'll just have

to move to where the jobs are and the cost of living is less.