Outsourcing of service jobs is something young college students need to be concerned about. While some companies outsource only help-lines and other non-college-educated positions, many others are outsourcing IT and other higher-level business functions.
The Brookings Institution, a private nonprofit organization that analyzes current and emerging issues, just released a report on the impacts of "service outsourcing" on US regions.
Some things I thought were very interesting:
- Twenty-eight metropolitan areas, with 13.5 percent of the nation's population, are likely to lose between 2.6 and 4.3 percent of their jobs to service offshoring.
- At least 17 percent of computer programming, software engineering, and data entry jobs are likely to be offshored in Bergen-Passaic, NJ; Boston, MA; Boulder, CO; Danbury, CT; Denver, CO; Hartford, CT; Minneapolis, MN; Nashua, NH; Newark, NJ; Orange County, CA; San Francisco, CA; San Jose, CA; Stamford, CT; and Wilmington, DE.
Around 2000, when I was getting ready to enter college, studying computer programming was considered the sure way to get a high-paying, secure job after graduation. Now, up to 17 percent of those jobs will be done overseas.
That's not a lot, but compare that to only 5 years ago when almost no service jobs were outsourced. What do you think will happen in 5 more years? What about in 10 years?
In America, many college students have been fairly complacent regarding outsourcing because (until recently) it hasn't applied to us. Perhaps it limited the labor positions we could do in the summer for extra money. But I doubt that the people who decided on computer science as a degree in 2000 knew that their jobs would be threatened shortly.
As collaboration technologies continue to improve and outsourcing becomes easier, other occupations we think are "safe" today will become less stable in the future. That doesn't mean we should all campaign against outsourcing, because that is unlikely to work. However, it does mean that students need to be more aware of the business world... and be prepared to develop skills that will keep them employable in the future.
On Wednesday, I'll start to reveal what employers wrote in to say they're looking for in college grads on my recent survey of 555 hiring managers. Stay tuned!
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