Outsourcing The Middle Class

Outsourcing the Middle Class

Outsourcing is an issue that America is struggling with right now. Outsourcing is a process in which a corporation will send its business overseas... to lets say India, or China. The reason they do this is only because the cost of production and labor is astronomically lower than what it is here in the U.S. White collar jobs are the most affected by this, with engineering, architecture, and accounting to name a few being hit the hardest (Raynor 1). To be more specific middle class American's are the ones that are facing this problem. Of course the overall impact of outsourcing does more than just affect the middle class; it runs much deeper into the nation's economy. Debt among the public, corporate, and private worlds are higher than they ever have been before (Steingart 1). With the jobs being taken away from middle class citizens, they have less money and in turn less money is put into the economy. The impact of outsourcing is vast, and changes need to be made before there is no local economy or middle class America left.

Until about the 1970's the U.S. was at its economic peak. It was known as the golden age. The U.S provided dollars and products for everyone; its productive core was the best it had ever been and America spread its productivity to as many places as it could. For four long decades the U.S. was the greatest net exporter and creditor. Our

nation was pumping money into poorer states all over the world. Outsourcing first started when the U.S as well as Germany and France tried cutting the costs of manufacturing their products by going abroad, then U.S. production took on a new form. The new form was in the shape of the globe. Global relocation and production took off, which started the redistribution of capital and labor (Steingart 2). Consequently countries like India started to like the new job opportunities and capital being put into their economy, all they could do was encourage more and more U.S. businesses to bring their production to their country. India appeared to have a surplus of highly educated workers that would work for a fraction of the cost that Americans would expect (Raynor 2). The once economic super power of the world is dwindling, today Asian, European, and Latin American nations are part of the United States productive core (Steingart 2). Now the U.S. has become the greatest importer and most important debtor. "Today, foreigners dispose of assets in the United States with a net value of $2.5 trillion, or 21 percent of gross domestic product" (Steingart 2). One might say "Oh how the tides have turned." A country that made itself into a super power tried helping the rest of the world with out looking out for its own needs and its own people; hence why the middle class are where they are now.

Since President Bush took office in 2000, middle class American job loss did not make any improvements. A staggering three million jobs were lost to cheap labor from India and Asia (Chernecky 2). These jobs that are being placed in India and Asia are proving to be stiff competition for the U.S. middle class. In fact an average wage for a computer programmer in the U.S. is about 80,000 dollars a year compared to an Indian worker expecting to earn closer to 11,000 dollars a year (Chernecky 2). The staggering

difference between those two figures makes it obvious why so many corporations would want to save roughly 79,000 dollars on every employee and take the plunge and make camp in India or China. Since outsourcing has become the latest trend, American middle class workers have definitely noticed. The number and quality of jobs in the U.S. fall short of expectations. American employers are hiring far fewer than necessary and the qualities of jobs that are available are not financially sustainable for a white collar worker trying to support a family or establish any sort of future.

Resorting to looking through the want-ads may get you somewhere like: retail, marketing, administrative services, waste services, tutoring, and health occupations (Raynor 1). With the decline in job availability and quality, the middle class is "usually just one illness, layoff, or divorce away from poverty" (Chernecky 3). If the middle class is so obviously in a struggle why will nothing be done about it? The middle class is shrinking away to join that of the lower class they have less of everything. They possess smaller amounts of money, society shows them little respect, and chances for moving up in the social caste have almost vanished. "Middle-class neighborhoods are shrinking at more than twice the rate of the middle class itself, in their place are poor and rich neighborhoods" (Chernecky 2). On the whole our nation's turn towards outsourcing is to blame.

On a higher level than the middle class citizens, the economy on which this country is based is going through some major struggles. Steingart says "The United States has promoted the worldwide exchange of commodities like no other nation" (1). This outsourcing is causing our local industry to start eroding. Certain manufacturers

such as, consumer electronics, the furniture industry, most car part suppliers, and computers are leaving the country for good to be produced overseas (Steingart 1). The list of negative impacts on the economy