You don't expect software industry to revive and grow after few years?
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Actually I do expect to see growth in the near future.
There is a bit of a complication however.
An increase in demand will not equal, automatically, a significant increase in the number of domestic 'talent' employed. The use of H1B workers and the offshore outsourcing already discussed provide IT customers (and service providers) with alternative, and cheaper, sources for labor.
Once American firms become accustomed to the dramatically lower costs of non-domestic (or programming 'guest worker') IT programming, call center support and other types of labor, they will not, even if the market improves, abandon those low-cost options in favor of higher cost Americans.
Unless 'emerging market' wages become standard here.
For example, it is being reported by the Indo-Asian News Service that Microsoft is planning to close a few domestic call centers and move their functions to India...
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Microsoft shifting more jobs to India Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, July 1
Amid the growing opposition to outsourcing of technology jobs in the US to other nations like India, Microsoft is reportedly shifting its customer support work done in Texas and North Carolina to its Indian office.
Although Microsoft has not yet decided how many people will be affected due to shifting of jobs, a union in the US, citing information from current and former workers, claims hundreds of jobs will be lost, Seattle Times reported on Tuesday.
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full at
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_295917,0003.htm
You don't really think that these jobs will automatically return to the US once demand picks up do you? The Indians are making around $8,000.00 a year. The Americans start at 40. The math says the likelihood of return is small to say the least.
Of course there will be a domestic American industry and of course, once there's an upturn, those with the right skills at the right place at the right time will benefit - for a time. But the number of domestic opportunities will be much smaller.
There are still, after all, American autoworkers but the numbers are smaller and the pressure upon American workers from the corporate owned Mexican (and other) assembly plants and parts sourcing companies is tremendous.
So even though American auto firms recovered from the severe slump of the 1970's and 80's, labor's strength was weakened - permanently it seems.
I expect to see a similar process play itself out in the IT arena.
THIS is what the fuss is really about from those who are alert and free of anti-immigrant and racist fetishes. The almost certain, permanent, loss of large numbers of jobs. Even after a recovery.
DRM
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