U.S. no longer the only place to be

[SteveA]

Cheryl Hall:
U.S. no longer the only place to be
Biggest threat of global outsourcing is the loss of talent, author says
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont....134c95c7.html

"Worried about global outsourcing? Chances are you're focused on the wrong end of the job equation.

Every day, hundreds of trained workers leave the United States for opportunities abroad.

This talent outflow poses more long-term dangers to our economy than the migration of low-skill-level jobs to cheaper foreign labor markets.

Many are going home – lured by improving homeland economies and highly targeted recruiting programs aimed at poaching America's brainpower.

"The United States used to have a monopoly on skilled immigration," says David Heenan, a former senior executive with Citigroup and author of the newly published Flight Capital: The Alarming Exodus of America's Best and Brightest.

"Whether it was Alfred Hitchcock, I.M. Pei, Peter Drucker or Albert Einstein, this was the place where everyone wanted to be. Few other countries were even in the game. That's no longer the case."

Now we have people like Hong Kong-born Edison Lui, former director of clinical sciences at the U.S. National Cancer Institute.


He is moving to Singapore to head that country's impressive genome institute. When Mr. Heenan asked him why, Dr. Lui said, "It's a small city-state of 4.5 million people where I can get decisions out of the government in a week, not three months."

Mr. Heenan estimates that up to 1,000 legal immigrants – many in leading-edge professions such as science, engineering, medicine and technology – make U-turns home each day.

He gets that admittedly squishy number by taking the figures of returning expatriates in such countries as India, China, Singapore and Ireland and then working backward.

Ireland? Yes, Ireland.

The Emerald Isle has zeroed in on more than 1,000 Irish immigrants living here and working in life sciences and technology. It's holding massive recruiting fairs and pursuing them with gusto, he says.

"For many attendees, it's shock and awe," Mr. Heenan says. "Many have been out of the country for 10 or 20 years and aren't that knowledgeable about the dramatic improvement in Ireland's educational institutions, tax system, general economy and the depth of research money.

"Of course, there's also plenty of Guinness going down the tubes," he adds with a laugh. "They've clearly turned some heads."


Terrorism's role

We can blame terrorism for part of the problem.

"For perfectly understandable reasons, we've tightened the borders and heightened constraints on potential recruits to the United States and also those who recently arrived," says Mr. Heenan. "The atmosphere for newcomers here post-9-11 is chilling and has renewed their sense of national roots."

We've removed the welcome mat while the Aussies, Canadians, New Zealanders and Singaporeans are rolling out the red carpet.

For example, in the past year, Australia hosted skilled labor expos in London, Berlin, Amsterdam and various Indian cities, Mr. Heenan says. Americans who have become more adventurous about living and working abroad are taking the recruitment bait, too.

...."

(You can read the rest of it from the link above)

[xyzer]

Here is an article which points out that the issue is not really as serious as some claim. It's as usual more Democrat agitprop started by Kerry during the election campaign..

READ

[SteveA]

Quote by: xyzer Here is an article which points out that the issue is not really as serious as some claim. It's as usual more Democrat agitprop started by Kerry during the election campaign.. READ

I agree it's not a partisan issue, and relatively free trade in the world is fine but we aren't really talking about outsourcing here. We're talking about the people simply leaving or not coming, and highly skilled people as well.

If you outsource something, you still own or benefit from the product but that (foreign) subcontractors do some of the work, and I agree that's fine though it still implies we could do better in providing those services at home. But that's not the same as having people or companies simply leave as this article is talking about. In that case it's not subcontracting - it's just losing that ability altogether.

I'm certain that most of this isn't due to overly competitive foreign companies and education but self destructive practices that make us less competitive inside the U.S.

[tivodan1116]

I don't see where the problem is. Are human beings from other countries less deserving of wealth than those in the United States? How arrogent to assume that every intelligent person has to live and work in the United States. Let people live wherever they want and migrate freely between nations.

It amazes me that the people who often CLAIM to be the biggest cheerleaders for the "free market" somehow become protectionists when it turns to immigration and the free market for labor...

[xyzer]

Did you ever consider the 'in sourcing' that's going on in this country at the same time as the outsourcing. Millions of Mexican/Central Americans are flooding the lower paying jobs in the southwest. They have to spend their income somewhere here in the US. Many more non citizens are coming in to fill technical jobs after receiving education in US schools. On balance the numbers insourcing probably far exceed those leaving..though I've not seen any figures on that?

Another factor is the savings that result from outsourcing. Those savings result in cheaper prices for products in the USA. Not to oversimplify the thing but, for example,.If Dell outsources its telephone trouble shooters to India its costs are reduced. This can result in price reductions, more romm for expansion, or freeing up more capital for R&D, or whatever.

I feel outsourcing is nothing more than a good opportunity for demagogue politicians (Kerry) to complain about. Remember all the smoke and mirrors about job losses that we were exposed to during the campaign..What has happened? We are recovering nicely and unemployment is way down.

[underbear1]

I imagine many youths see their future BRIGHTER beyond America, and if you are gifted, and have a high demand talent, I'd go for it! The nastiness of homophobia rampant in America presently, and the impending loss of women's and civil rights will have a substantial amount of people considering migration. America has only itself to blame, for allowing herself to become so ugly and corrupt. If I was 30 years younger I'd be likely to leave as well.

[SteveA]

Quote by: tivodan1116 I don't see where the problem is. Are human beings from other countries less deserving of wealth than those in the United States? How arrogent to assume that every intelligent person has to live and work in the United States. Let people live wherever they want and migrate freely between nations. It amazes me that the people who often CLAIM to be the biggest cheerleaders for the "free market" somehow become protectionists when it turns to immigration and the free market for labor...

Was this directed at me? You must have misread something. I never encouraged trying to force people to stay. You read between lines I never typed and made an incorrect assumption.

Truly, I'd encourage people with better prospects elsewhere to follow them. The issue I think is most critical to address is why people see better prospects elsewhere. I'm rather certain we're cutting our own throats economically here.

[SteveA]

Here's some economic info on Hong Kong (considered to have the freest markets in the world)

Hong Kong (sales pitch)
http://www.tdctrade.com/main/economic.htm

GDP per capita $24,700
Hong Kong's fiscal account returned to a surplus of US$ 2.7 billion for the fiscal year ended March 2005. (for a population size of ~7 million)

They've experienced an average rate of deflation (less expensive costs) of around 1% over the last 4 years. So they aren't having the inflation problems we're having here.

The U.S. average income per capita is ~$33,000/yr. It would be interesting to do some cost of living comparisons. Hong Kong doesn't have a lot of land though, so land values are likely high.

[tivodan1116]

Quote by: SteveA Was this directed at me?

Not at all.

Truly, I'd encourage people with better prospects elsewhere to follow them. The issue I think is most critical to address is why people see better prospects elsewhere. I'm rather certain we're cutting our own throats economically here.

True, and most of that is coming from preposterous government interference, crushing taxes, and nanny-stateism