International companies, especially from the United States, have been using India's skilled and cheap workers for almost two decades to handle software jobs but have done most of their research in-house. Now, that is changing.
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During a visit last month to Bangalore, Intel's president and chief operating officer, Paul Otellini said his company could access "incredible talent" in India. "To get these skills, we may not be able to hire and train people quickly in the United States."
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Yes, indeed.
There seem to be two major categories of reaction to all this tech offshore outsourcing and H1-b business:
a.) American tech is being sold down the river just like auto and steel and other industries that survive but whose workers suffer from reduced leverage due to the constant threat of cheaper alternatives. Also, these international workers, higher salaries by local standards notwithstanding, are being used as pawns in Capital's war against labor.
and
b.) You big techie babies need to shut up and take your medicine. Do you begrudge Indians, Chinese, etc. a little piece of the pie? Sorry that you won't be able to afford to stay at the Four Seasons, live in oversized houses and buy new SUVs any more but those are the breaks. Welcome to the real world, arrogant jerks.
It seems that reactions to the apparent torrent of news about this or that element of tech being outsourced to India (just heard some interesting news at a client on Friday that will result in a loss of many programmer positions to India, etc)are shaped more by a person's proximity to the industry or beliefs about its workers than an objective review of the implications.
My own feelings, for example, are the result of my concerns about job security. An illusion, I know, but it's natural for the mind to dream of stability. Others - progressives who probably watched the 90's bubble with disdain - appear to harbor a certain, muted glee that these spoiled brats are getting their comeuppance from skilled second and third worlders.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, aside from the fears and preconceptions of American earthlings, a process of labor relocation and displacement is underway. It won't be a complete rout, there will always be an American tech industry I suppose, but it will be weaker and, for the workers, poorer once the trend evens out.
Captial always seeks cheaper labor, and will search the globe - around and around again - to find it. I wonder, can such a system of global impoverishment last for many more decades (never mind centuries) alongside climate change, nuclear proliferation and other planet-wide problems?
DRM
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