Well, this is certainly interesting. A new
study
concludes that the U.S. economy has much to gain from global sourcing
.
The gains are not only in real incomes (partly because of lower inflation) but also in jobs.
While offshore outsourcing has and will continue to displace workers in the IT software and services profession, the positive gains to the economy, as a whole, will stimulate job creation throughout the economy. The overall gain is positive: an estimated 193,900 new jobs were created in 2003 and over 589,000 new jobs are expected by 2008, if offshore ITO continues. These estimates include both IT and non-IT jobs. After accounting for the number of displaced IT software and services jobs, the net number of new jobs in 2003 was estimated to be over 90,000, and the net number of new jobs in 2008 is expected to be over 317,000.
One big caveat: the study was commissioned by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), a trade body and hardly disinterested in the results.
The ITAA, not surprisingly, wants government to help out: it should
Consider offering assistance to service workers similar to that offered manufacturing workers, in a variety of forms, including skills training (and compensation during the training period) [...]
[ Found via KeepMedia's RSS feed. ]
Update: Sure enough, it looks like the report needs to be taken with more than a grain of salt. Max Sawicky is seriously annoyed and Calpundit, errr, Kevin Drum thinks skepticism is warranted:
You probably shouldn't take these kinds of reports very seriously unless someone you trust gives you a good reason, and you should never take them seriously based only on their press release. Caveat emptor.