U.S. commerce chief touts outsourcing

By Rachel Kondrad
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue is promoting overseas outsourcing of jobs as a way to boost the economy and even increase employment — a stance that rankles jobless white-collar workers, particularly in the flagging technology industry.

Donohue, speaking last night to the Commonwealth Club of California, said he believes exporting high-paid tech jobs to low-cost countries such as India, China and Russia saves companies money that they may use to create new jobs for Americans.

CEOs from Wall Street to Silicon Valley have embraced the theory, and the pace of offshoring has shocked statisticians and economists.

In early June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics downwardly revised projections for white-collar job growth for 2002-2003, based on accelerated job migration. The agency reported that seven of the 10 occupations expected to gain the most ground are low-wage occupations that do not require a college degree.

Technology consulting firm Gartner Inc. estimates that 10 percent of computer services and software jobs will be moved overseas by the end of this year.

The job outlook in the San Francisco Bay area — home to legions of unemployed programmers since the dot-com bust of 2000 — is particularly bleak.

Donohue acknowledged the pain for people who have lost jobs to offshoring — an estimated 250,000 a year, according to government estimates. But pockets of unemployment shouldn't lead to "anecdotal politics and policies," he said, and people affected by offshoring should "stop whining."

"One job sent overseas, if it happens to be my job, is one too many," Donohue said. "But the benefits of offshoring jobs outweighs the cost."

Although call center jobs have been migrating to the Philippines and Malaysia since the 1990s, in the past two years cash-strapped companies have exported high-paying jobs in research and development, software engineering, chip design and biotechnology startups.