Difference between revisions of "Student Projects:IT Outsourcing"

Revision as of 06:50, 19 November 2004

IT Outsourcing Policy: Three Alternatives for Mitigating the Impact of OffShoring

Abstract

We will investigate ways to prepare the American workforce to be more competitive in a globalizing labor market. From a public policy standpoint, how can government improve the career prospects for displaced workers as well as future generations of IT workers. We will explore various types of programs and incentives such as vocational training programs and education and research initiatives that will encourage the American workface to develop the skills and creativity they need to thrive in a fluid global economy.

Ideas

educational and research policies to keep future americans competitive:

1. offer American tech companies tax breaks for continuing education programs for employees

2. offer govrnment prizes for american companies/individuals for creating new technology that could maybe be used by government agencies

Educate and re-educate our workforce.

Send "students" of the old economy to community college and technical schools to gain the knowledge necessary for the new economy-the high tech world.

We should create the intellectual infrastructure necessary to give America the comparative advantage that we once had. American firms should once again dominate the marketplace.

Sub Topics

Mitigating negative impact

3. Policies for helping displaced workers -- Hong Qu, Gianna Segretti

Crafting Long term public policy goals

4. Educational and research policies to keep future generations of Americans competitive -- Ian Carpe, Sandy Tesch

Member List

• • Ian Carpe, UC Berkeley, iancarpe@berkeley.edu [User:iancarpe]
  • Hong Qu, UC Berkeley, hqu@sims.berkeley.edu [User:Hong]
  • Gianna Segretti, UCB, giannasegretti@yahoo.com
  • Sandy Tesch, UCB, User:sandy01, sandy01@berkeley.edu

Project Goals

References

Businessweek article

"Offshoring" Service Jobs: Bane or Boon and What to Do?

How Outsourcing Creates Jobs for Americans

Outsourcing, Offshoring, and Globalization

The Outsourcing Bogeyman

Offshore Outsourcing Resource Center

[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/03/07/MNGRT5G2C11.DTL Offshoring's giant target: the Bay Area Silicon Valley could face export of 1 in 6 jobs -- worst in nation]

News.blog: Outsourcing

InformationWeek Outsourcing

Offshore Outsourcing: American Competitiveness and the 50+ Worker

[http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2454530

The great hollowing-out myth]

Hong's Outsourcing bookmarks on delicious

Outline

Jobs in information technology are being outsourced. The U.S. government can help displaced workers by crafting policy that will: 1)decreasing outsourcing, 2)creating new higher-end jobs, and 3)closing the international wage gap.

• Decrease outsourcing
• Create new higher end jobs
• Close wage gap

• Executive summary
• Problem background (Sandy and Ian): why do we need to help displaced workers?
• Alternatives (for helping displaced workers)

o Decrease outsourcing (Gianna)

o Regulatory

• Conditional government contracts

o Incentive-based

• Subsidies/tax breaks for businesses that stay here/create re-training programs
• Incentives to bring overseas jobs back to US

o Create new higher-end jobs (Hong)

o Closing wage gap (Sandy and Ian)

• Criteria

o IT industry is strengthened

• Employment rate goes up
• Quality of standard of living here and US goes up
• Job security goes up
• Rise in per capita income
• Average salary of number of IT jobs increases
• Number of new, non-exported IT jobs increases
• Size of IT industry as a whole is growing
• New IT ventures/companies increases

o Financial feasibility o Political feasibility

Random Notes

• Keep jobs from moving overseas
• Increase quality of the jobs/education here in US

o Continuing education tax break o Ex: IBM's $25 million

• Increase wages for IT jobs in developing countries (labor rights)

o Offer them money, military protection o Set international minimum wage (increase wages a little bit [small effect in US, but large effect in developing nation, therefore prompting other companies to increase wage as well])

• Keep foreign workers here after they finish school

o Sometimes their countries pay for them, sometimes the American university pays for them o American workers may be upset that foreign workers are taking their jobs o US offers a high quality of life vs. their companies have paid for them to come

• Questions about regulating businesses - how can we regulate things that are not physical?
• Look at what the EU is doing
• What jobs will always stay overseas (trends in what jobs are being lost to outsourcing every year)
• Technology sector that would be easier to keep in US: innovation, R&D, entertainment/video games (?) - but there is a lot of R&D there, too

o US education system encourages independent thinking o But what about foreign students learning here?