by Gary Cain

Created on: March 16, 2009   Last Updated: March 17, 2009

It used to be that only blue-collar jobs were outsourced overseas, since the "unskilled" labor required for these jobs was readily found in those lower cost countries. In recent years, however, "skilled" positions and white-collar jobs are also being eliminated in the United States and sent overseas.

The major impetus which has led U.S. corporations to shed white-collar and "skilled" labor jobs in greater numbers is cost cutting. Since these jobs, which require significant intellectual capital, demand higher wages as well, American companies can save considerably by outsourcing such positions to reduced labor cost countries overseas. Only within the past few years have the educational systems of countries such as India and China begun to produce students of a level comparable to those in the U.S. With highly educated workforces recently becoming available at significantly lower salaries in these faraway places, it's no wonder that our advanced jobs are finally going there.

While outsourcing white-collar jobs to overseas may save corporate America money in the short term, downsides to this practice are being negligently overlooked. For example, many of those being laid off here have considerable practical experience in their fields of expertise which those overseas workers fresh out of school do not possess. Recently hired scientists or computer technicians in China or India, for example, may cost less, but they're unlikely to do a better job than the veteran U.S. employees they're replacing, since they lack the problem-solving skills that come with our years of experience. Time is money, and extra time required for the inexperienced to overcome day-to-day problems doesn't really save money over the long run.

Ominously, as our highly educated and experienced white-collar U.S. workforce loses jobs to overseas, this country loses much of our advanced skill sets as well. With the rapid pace of change in most fields, it won't take long until few people are left in this country possessing cutting edge skills. Maybe that's not an issue as long as relations with foreign countries remain good, but what if, in a few years, relations sour? There's a real danger that we'll be intellectually and technically left behind, all because our corporations wanted to save a few short term dollars by outsourcing jobs overseas.

A real national tragedy is that all these millions of laid-off employees here possess extremely valuable skills which are no longer being utilized. For example,

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