by Kevin Tetter

Created on: September 05, 2010

Depending on who you are, the consequences of outsourcing can be very profitable, or, as in the case of many Americans, an unmitigated disaster.

The CEO's of companies that outsource are rewarded handsomely for their efforts. Those same companies make substantial political contributions in order make sure the government will do nothing about shipping American jobs overseas. This leaves the typical American worker with no representation, and at the mercy of companies whose bottom lines trump any moral obligation they may have to their employees. 

Even a casual Web search will reveal the working conditions in countries that now boast what used to be American jobs. Slave and child labor, with long hours and low pay are commonplace. Unemployment benefits, worker's compensation, minimum wage, or any of the things that are the law of the land in America apply to cheap overseas labor. Environmental concerns are frequently ignored, as well as safety and quality issues. Are these companies and the American government aware of these kinds of conditions? Well, you are. How could they not be aware? Those conditions are the reason your job was shipped overseas. It is much cheaper to pay a child laborer pennies to work 18 hours with no bathroom break than to pay you a fair wage while observing the litany of laws designed to protect the American worker. 

Even shunning the traditional job and striking out on your own has consequences due to outsourcing. There was a time when a freelancer could make a decent living offering their services on a per job basis, but now those same freelancers are competing with overseas labor who will do the same job for pennies on your dollar. A writer charging $20 or $25 per article is now competing with someone who will write the same article for $1. In a regular job this would be illegal. For freelancers, no minimum wage law exists.

The wages in countries such as India, Pakistan, Philippines, Bangladesh, and other favorites will continue to stay low in the near future. To raise the wages quickly in those countries would cause inflation that would decimate an already poor populous. Even with outsourcing, most residents of these countries are still very poor, and inflation of any significance would be more than a devastating blow, and in fact, may cause political destabilization. You can be sure that companies and governments are well aware of that possibility. 

In the meantime, as American wages decline, and more jobs are shipped overseas, the once powerful American economy is becoming a shadow of itself. The gains made by the countries that host cheap labor are built on jobs that are spoon fed to them by companies in the United states. But, as the say goes, "If there's a will, there's a way." There are still ways to succeed and live the good life in America. Working for a company may no longer be one of those ways.

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