Post by unlawflcombatnt on Jan 8, 2007 17:39:51 GMT -6
The following is a review of the roots of the problems caused by outsourcing from an article written by Paul Craig Roberts in April, 2003, titled The Good Times - Exporting America's High-Wage Jobs
"April 29, 2003
Ending The Good Times - Exporting America’s High-Wage Jobs
By Paul Craig Roberts
During the first 27 months of the Bush administration, the U.S. economy has lost 2.6 million private sector jobs. Much of this loss is from the fall in profits and subsequent downsizing after the high-tech bust. Some lost jobs, however, are from a new development: America’s export of high-wage jobs to low-wage countries.
The collapse of the Soviet Union, China’s “capitalist road,” and privatizations in formerly socialist economies made it reasonably safe for U.S. firms to locate capital and technology abroad to employ foreign labor to produce for the U.S. market. The main incentive to take production offshore is the availability of labor at wages far below the U.S. rate....
The growing ability of U.S. employers to substitute cheaper foreign labor for U.S. labor is putting pressure on U.S. wages and salaries. On April 26 the New York Times reported that the real earnings of those in the top ten percent fell 1.4% over the last year. The real weekly pay for the median worker fell 1.5 percent.
Another indication of the pressure on U.S. employment is the growing number of discouraged jobseekers who have dropped out of the labor force. The 5.8 percent unemployment rate does not include those too discouraged to seek jobs.
According to U.S. Labor Department figures reported in the New York Times on April 27, four million Americans have dropped out of the labor force since March 2001. Some of these dropouts are 30-year olds formerly making $150,000 per year...."
The entire article can be found at:
Ending The Good Times - Exporting America’s High-Wage Jobs
"April 29, 2003
Ending The Good Times - Exporting America’s High-Wage Jobs
By Paul Craig Roberts
During the first 27 months of the Bush administration, the U.S. economy has lost 2.6 million private sector jobs. Much of this loss is from the fall in profits and subsequent downsizing after the high-tech bust. Some lost jobs, however, are from a new development: America’s export of high-wage jobs to low-wage countries.
The collapse of the Soviet Union, China’s “capitalist road,” and privatizations in formerly socialist economies made it reasonably safe for U.S. firms to locate capital and technology abroad to employ foreign labor to produce for the U.S. market. The main incentive to take production offshore is the availability of labor at wages far below the U.S. rate....
The growing ability of U.S. employers to substitute cheaper foreign labor for U.S. labor is putting pressure on U.S. wages and salaries. On April 26 the New York Times reported that the real earnings of those in the top ten percent fell 1.4% over the last year. The real weekly pay for the median worker fell 1.5 percent.
Another indication of the pressure on U.S. employment is the growing number of discouraged jobseekers who have dropped out of the labor force. The 5.8 percent unemployment rate does not include those too discouraged to seek jobs.
According to U.S. Labor Department figures reported in the New York Times on April 27, four million Americans have dropped out of the labor force since March 2001. Some of these dropouts are 30-year olds formerly making $150,000 per year...."
The entire article can be found at:
Ending The Good Times - Exporting America’s High-Wage Jobs