The Change Mariner

Tech Workers' Losing Fight to Match Overseas Wages

NYT:
... Information technology industries have "led the initial overseas exodus," according to a study by Forrester Research, published in November 2002. In a survey of 400 hiring managers in May, the Information Technology Association found that 12 percent of the information technology companies in the survey had moved jobs offshore, compared with 6 percent of the nontechnology companies.

"I feel to some extent the train has already left, and I'm not sure how it can be reversed," Mr. Marx said. "The layoff has had a profound effect on me. It's difficult walking away from something you've been doing for 27 years. There used to be two pages of tech jobs in the classified section. Now there's maybe one column."

Many American technology workers whose jobs have not been moved offshore say that they are being offered lower salaries than in the past. "It's a total deflation period" for information technology workers, said John C. McCarthy, a Forrester Research group director who led the firm's offshoring study. Many technology workers "can expect to make at least 20 percent less than they did during the boom," he said.

Many experts are stressing that technology workers must upgrade their skills and are advising them to shift their sights to sectors that are still hiring.

Wireless technology, broadband and security technology are all growing fields, according to John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an international outplacement consulting firm. Mr. Challenger also recommends that tech workers consider looking into government and military technology, health care and pharmaceuticals.

"When the dot-com bubble burst it was the end of skyrocketing I.T. salaries," Mr. Challenger said. "It's important for I.T. workers to make sure their skills are not outdated."

The proponents of offshoring see it as an effective solution to rapidly rising costs. An August report by the McKinsey Global Institute, a research group that is part of McKinsey & Company, called offshoring a win-win situation for the global economy and asserted that it allowed American companies to not only reduce their costs but also reap larger profits by investing in new businesses at home.

That study said that an Indian software developer could make as little as $6 an hour, compared with $60 an hour for an American.

Amazon Price:

Amazon Price: