New Report: 30 Million Service Jobs May be Shipped Overseas

[antigop]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/01/23/new-report-30-million-service-jobs-may-be-shipped-overseas/

Recent telecommunications advances, especially the Internet, could theoretically put more than 30 million U.S. jobs at risk of being exported overseas. Services previously needed to be performed domestically theoretically can be done anywhere in the world through the Internet, four U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) analysts say in an article appearing in the agency’s Monthly Labor Review (subscription required).

The 160 occupations considered capable of being performed in other countries account for some 30.3 million workers, one-fifth of total U.S. employment and cover a wide array of job functions, pay rates and educational levels.

More than half of the vulnerable jobs in the BLS study are professional and related occupations, including computer and mathematical science occupations and architecture and engineering jobs, and many office and administrative support occupations also are considered susceptible.

Since 2000, corporations have shipped more than 525,000 white-collar overseas, according to the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees (DPE). Some estimates say up to 14 million middle-class jobs could be exported out of our nation in the next 10 years. Accountants, software engineers, X-ray technicians, all are losing their jobs as corporations look for low-wage workers in countries such as India and China.
...
Among the occupations most susceptible to being sent overseas, the BLS analysts say, are those that produce information and do not require “face-to-face” contact. Among the most vulnerable are office and administrative support jobs, with relatively low education or training requirements, including telephone operators, payroll and timekeeping clerks, and word processors and typists.

Another 11 of the highest ranked jobs are professional and related occupations, which generally possess higher educational requirements. They include pharmacists, computer programmers, biochemists and biophysicists, architectural and civil drafters, financial analysts, paralegals and legal assistants.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why our economy won't recover until this nonsense stops. KEEP THE JOBS HERE. US WORKERS FOR US JOBS.

[aquart]

1. So far as I'm concerned, this is grand theft. Stop it with cops.

[driver8]

2. Tax the shit out of corporations that send jobs overseas...

Don't make it profitable for them to pull this shit.

Who do they think is going to be able to afford their products or services?

[unlawflcombatnt]

11. Exactly

We need to get out of the WTO and every last one of our anti-American-worker trade agreements.

We could then put TARIFFS on everything that comes into the US, especially on goods and services from American-owned, foreign-located companies.

With service companies, especially those that have government granted monopolies (like cable companies--such as Time Warner), we legislate that all of their call centers are in the US. That could easily be made a contract requirement since the government is allowing them to maintain local monopolies.

For once maybe, the government could intervene on behalf of American workers--instead of sleazy, traitorous multinational Corporations.

[newfie11]

3. As an x-ray technologist in the medical field

I don't think that we will see a big influx of foreign (India & China)workers. Not in my field. The requirements for medical x-ray technologists are to strict. They must have 2 years accredited school (US), national registration, state license, and continuing education must be done.
Besides right now the field is not in demand as past years. While there are jobs out there they are way down from two years ago.

If they are talking about industrial x-ray technicians then that maybe a different story.

[sandnsea]

4. My doctor is from India

If they'll bring in doctors, they'll bring in x-ray techs.

[antigop]

6. This isn't about bringing foreign workers here --it's about reading the X-rays overseas

and having the work done overseas.

Some U.S. Hospitals outsourcing work (Article from 2004)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6621014/

When a patient in Altoona, Pa., needs an emergency brain scan in the middle of the night, a doctor in Bangalore, India, is asked to interpret the results.

Spurred by a shortage of U.S. radiologists and an exploding demand for more sophisticated scans to diagnose scores of ailments, doctors at Altoona Hospital and dozens of other American hospitals are finding that offshore outsourcing works even in medicine.

[newfie11]

12. Some hospitals have used night hawks in Australia for years.

The appeal is they read the film at night so the Rads don't need to be disturbed.

Yes there is a major shortage in Radiologists.
Smaller hospitals as well as hospitals on some reservations also fax films to Radiologists in large cities here in the states.

[Warpy]

9. They're talking about faxing X rays to India to be read

which makes a great deal of sense at night, but only if India returns the favor on their night shift. It's much better to have a day worker read them than an exhausted radiologist who's been dragged out of bed in the middle of the night for an emergency.

Unfortunately, it isn't working that way, and US radiologists are finding themselves simply being replaced by offshore radiologists.

X ray techs are something completely different and that job isn't vulnerable to offshoring, although it's extremely vulnerable to a rotten economy with a huge pool of uninsured people who don't come in for treatment until they're nearly dead.

[justaregularperson]

18. It doesn't make sense at all. How about we educate more here and keep our standards?

So we don't have enough educated Americans to do it? Why the hell aren't we opening more medical schools and giving people opportunities to learn? How can we have decent quality control with fax techs? It is idiotic and I am amazed anyone would have so little respect for their health and well being.

[Warpy]

19. I guess you've never been on call at night.

[corpseratemedia]

5. IF this self-annihilating outsourcing doesn't stop

this economy has NO chance of ever recovering and frankly I can't even see the union of 50 states staying together either.

And all that that implies, and we aren't used to it on this land.

[antigop]

7. Obama campaign promise: End tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/#trade

# End Tax Breaks for Companies that Send Jobs Overseas: Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that companies should not get billions of dollars in tax deductions for moving their operations overseas. Obama and Biden will also fight to ensure that public contracts are awarded to companies that are committed to American workers.
# Reward Companies that Support American Workers: Barack Obama introduced the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 with Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to reward companies that create good jobs with good benefits for American workers. The legislation would provide a tax credit to companies that maintain or increase the number of full-time workers in America relative to those outside the US; maintain their corporate headquarters in America if it has ever been in America; pay decent wages; prepare workers for retirement; provide health insurance; and support employees who serve in the military.

[antigop]

8. Will Obama keep his campaign promise -- I don't see it in the stimulus bill. n/t

[truedelphi]

17. I hear ya. I really do.

The folks I would actually love to see replaced are the glib financial news advisers and reporters.

Every time that Kathleen what's her name in the S.F. Chronicle spouts off about the remarkable savings that American Companies can make by having the jobs outsourced, all I can think is, "How hard would it be to find some person in Bombay who is fluent in reading and writing English to write the economic prospects like the ones that she posts each day."

Granted there might be a small grammatical error now and then, but I'd suffer that knowing that Ms. Kathleen finally got it handed to her just like the rest of us!

[msongs]

10. US corporations are the greatest threat to our security..no other threat comes close nt

[CrispyQ]

16. I agree.

If we don't rein these behemoths in, we're toast. Over the years, they have been awarded better protections & rights than We the People, so they can pursue profit, even to the detriment of our well being.

[Joanne98]

13. We need TARIFFS!

[nichomachus]

14. Right wingers want to shoot Mexicans coming here looking for a job, but

will give tax breaks to companies who ship jobs overseas. That really shows that their anti-Mexican crusade is based on racism and not a desire to protect jobs.

[OneBlueSky]

15. there oughta be a law . . .

that either prevents or strongly discourages this from happening . . .

and severe penalties for companies that transfer jobs overseas to increase profits and/or that move headquarters offshore to avoid taxes . . .

both are despicable, and companies that engage in either should not enjoy the benefits and protections of being a U.S. corporation . . .