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You could call them white lies. In recent times, the US press has been full of stories about how outsourcing is destroying the country. There are fanciful tales aplenty. There?s the man who shot himself because he was Bangalored. (It is an expression fast gaining currency. Defines a web dictionary: ?Bangalored adj. for a corporation, project or employment, having been relocated to India; having lost business or employment due to such relocation.?)
Then there is Tom Kirscher, who went to court to say that he couldn?t pay alimony because his job has been Bangalored. The judge did not agree. And you must read the story of Buel Jackson, living with his large family in a one-room hut in a slum in Surat. He has moved from the US to India because he no longer has a job there. He is now working for Maytag and starving because he cannot afford to buy food. His wife has lost 50 pounds and his son has dengue.
People believe all this Buel because Bush?s America, at least the heartland, has become even more insular than it was in the days before World War I.
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If you look between the lines of these exaggerations, however, there are several trends visible. Jobseekers getting into the market right now need to note that what is happening in the US today (in terms of certain jobs migrating to other countries) will happen in India too. For instance, Bangladesh is beckoning the call centres. The government will start doling out huge sops soon to compensate for the textile sector job losses, which will happen once the quota regime goes from January 2005.
What are some of the key trends?
First, manufacturing jobs are moving to India too. British auto component firm Carclo plc has just announced that it is shifting its cable manufacturing unit from England to India. Some 150 jobs will be transferred. Nokia is setting up a handset manufacturing unit in India. It has diplomatically not announced any plan to simultaneously phase out manufacturing elsewhere. But the ground realities in Europe are well known: several of its rivals have announced job losses. Nokia itself is closing down a facility in Florida in the US.
The big job boom is expected in textiles and apparel and auto components. US textile unions have already begun targeting India. China, which has taken up a huge number of low-end manufacturing jobs, is an established threat. India is a growing danger.
| SAFE HAVENS The unexportable sectors |
| Health care Source: Gray & Christmas |
Second, some jobs in call centres are moving back to the US. Dell Computers has decided to stop outsourcing its technical support from Bangalore. It is instead setting up facilities in Texas, Idaho and Tennessee. Whatever the explanation proffered, the real reason is that properly qualified technical support personnel have begun costing too much in India. Third, as Indian salaries climb and salaries in ?First World? countries rise, it has started making more sense to keep jobs at home.
Fourth, ?India has practically become a First World country in these areas,? says a Mumbai-based analyst. ?The problems that are visiting the US will be upon us in a couple of years.?
His advice to jobseekers is to study what?s happening there and select the best option accordingly. For instance, healthcare jobs are very safe; you can?t nurse a patient from a distance.
?Of course, extrapolating from just a few trends is simplistic,? adds the analyst. But you can only do so much. Anything more and it?s a full-time job. And that?s another job that?s very safe because of the circumstances ? that of the career counsellor.
