This movie was an eye-opener about the global economy of America. Everyone has recognized that menial type jobs and blue collar jobs have been outsourced to lesser privileged countries such as India and China. However, these types of jobs were not the types of jobs that American workers necessarily wanted in the first place. The new threat is that now there are jobs that are being outsourced that American workers do want. In fact, these jobs are not the menial types of manual labor jobs that used to be outsourced. Telephone correspondence and white collar industry jobs are being outsourced more and more, causing a loss of jobs to the American workforce.
Some people think that the loss of jobs is a bad thing. I agree that it is a bad thing especially right away when it first happens. However, just as the economy has recovered from crises in the past, and actually become stronger for it, there is a possibility that the outsourcing might stimulate the work force to either be better than the countries that are being used for outsourcing, or to at least be as affordable. The idea that completion is not between cubicles, but across borders is dangerous to the average worker, today. However, tomorrow, it is possible that there could be a new economy that has new and different jobs that evolve out of outsourcing the jobs that we currently try to desperately hold on to.
The call industry center in India is a really intriguing aspect of this film. Personally, I have had fantastic experiences interacting with consultant that are overseas outsourced operators. They are extremely polite and follow strict protocols that are based on American cultural norms. These operators are able to speak English nearly perfectly, and they provide the same, if not better, customer service as does an actual American. So far, it seems that outsourcing has actually been working well for big companies like eBay and Amazon.
I feel that outsourcing is just a natural next step in the globalized economy. I do believe that America will re-educate and re-train their workforce, because necessity will force that upon the workforce. If Americans do not respond and adjust, then the outsourcing is damaging permanently to the employment level. However, what is interesting is that a loss of American jobs is not necessarily an immediate detriment to the overall economy if the jobs lost actually lower product prices for consumers. There has to be some sort of compromise that the American workforce reaches in order to respond to outsourcing instead of ignoring it.
The white collar “exodus” is literally just that, white collar jobs are leaving the country because they have found options across seas. Because of technology, borders are becoming figurative, and there is a global economy that is encroaching upon our national economy. The national economy must change its approach, and not try to resist outsourcing, but embrace it. Then, either develop jobs that cannot be outsourced, or beat the outsourcers at their own game.
I also do not think that outsourcing takes advantage of countries for their lesser wages than the United States. There are different standards of life in every country, and what is a Western value, may not be an Eastern value, and vice versa. Therefore, although the United States might save money by undercutting its own workforce to save money, it is not undercutting the international workforce, but contributing to is. I do not think the ages should be judged form American standards, since those standards are the ones that are avoided in outsourcing.
I felt that the segment about America’s fear of foreigners and that we tend to blame them when things go wrong, yet we do not hesitate to employ them, and then blame them for the falling economy and job market, was pretty insightful. It seems that by outsourcing Americans feed their fear of foreigners, but also do not hesitate to blame the foreigners for taking the job opportunities away from us, even though we gave the jobs to them.
The idea that Congress tried to outlaw governmental outsourcing with Joh Kerry’s support was interesting. To me, I do not think that it makes sense for the government to outsource its own work. There is confidential information and really, the government should not be trying to save money in their operations if it means taking away jobs from their constituents.
The issues that surround outsourcing effect everyone, globally and nationally; jobs are created and jobs are destroyed. The American economy is a living and breathing type of economy so I think that outsourcing is just the next step in the evolution of globalization and capitalism. Moreover, the film had a good point about the American buying and purchasing power. American consumers have long since outsourced their products just by their choices. When a consumer wants a cheaper product the only solution is outsourcing because American labor is too expensive to create cheap products. I think that places like Walmart or Hobby Lobby are evidence that the average consumer care less about the origin of their product and whether the product is made at home or on foreign shores, as compared to the bottom line price of the product. If American consumers refused to purchase anything that was not made in America, then the outsourcing of American jobs would be forced to a stop. However, the bottom line is that American consumers will shop at Walmart in order to make their own dollar go as far as possible.
