Outsourcing: researchers downplay impact of offshoring.

AuthorGray, Carol Lippert
PositionBusinessBriefs

As the debate and handwringing over offshore outsourcing escalates, the fundamental question remains: What jobs are going to be left in the U.S. as big corporations continue shipping jobs to low-cost venues like India?

According to Linda Barrington, a labor labor economist, research director and special assistant to the president of The Conference Board, "We're not going to have this Malthusian thing where we collapse on ourselves just because jobs are going offshore." Actually, say both Barrington and Susan Meisinger, president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, not all job categories are leaving, and new jobs will be created at home. It's just that our collective crystal ball doesn't yet see what they are--short of "new career paths for labor lawyers," Meisinger jokes. Both experts were panelists at a seminar this past winter in New York, "Trends That Affect HR, 2004," sponsored by Marsh Inc. and the Five O'Clock Club, a career counseling and outplacement organization.

Meisinger thinks jobs in the privacy arena will grow "as we're moving lots more information over lines." But, she adds, "We don't know what we don't know in terms of what's going to happen. Look at the shifts FedEx and the Internet have created. Jobs that used to be done at a desk, in your office, now can be done globally, electronically. Different models and opportunities are emerging."

Barrington agrees, noting, "A lot of new jobs...

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