Some economists say that outsourcing jobs to China increases high paying jobs and wages in the US. Jobs don’t have to be outsourced to China. Here in Harrisburg, PA, a significant amount of high paying programming jobs were moved to California.
Even if it’s good for the economy in the long term, in the short term the reality is that workers get hurt when jobs are outsourced.
Why California? It costs even more to get work done out there. How can that be economical? I can understand someone wanting cheaper labor and moving labor to China, but California makes little sense.
In truth, a PA company was bought by a CA company. The PA company hadn’t been competing effectively, but still had a loyal customer base. Instead of letting the company run itself into the ground, the owners were able to sell to the CA company.
The CA company got more customers, the customers got a better and more reliable service, and the PA owners were able to sell out before it got too dire. Everyone wins… except for the workers in PA.
For the economy, there is nothing better than capitalism leading to the demise of a company for the benefit of another. For a new jobless worker, there is little that is more terrifying.
Those workers did eventually find new jobs. It’s been years now. Were they all the best in their field? Of course not. However, the best of them still lost their job.
It doesn’t take getting fired to lose your job. Jobs are outsourced all the time.
When a company dies or the work is outsourced, people either re-train or retire. They use the new skills they learned to find new, better-paying work.
Are you getting new, valuable skills at your current job? In a dying company, there are people who will re-train themselves long before the company sinks, then use that to get a new job. It’s better to train and leave early than to wait until you’re up to your neck in water.
Something to do today
Write down a list of skills you’ve developed at your current job. What skills are your coworkers developing that are not on your list?