Offshoring backlash rises as layoffs mount

Engineering groups are asking why companies are still shipping jobs overseas, and where Obama stands on the practice

George Leopold, EE Times
(03/23/2009 12:01 AM EDT)

The worst economic downturn since the Great Depression is raising the volume on the offshoring debate. Labor groups are slamming companies for shipping jobs overseas at a time of spiraling U.S. high-tech unemployment, and critics have characterized the Obama administration's early efforts to reach out to high-tech executives as tacit complicity.

At the same time, a new survey has found that some offshored jobs are heading back home, as employers in one sector discover the economies of overseas outsourcing are not what they expected.

Workers cried foul in late January when IBM Corp. announced the layoff of about 2,800 U.S. employees, with union officials claiming the company was sending jobs offshore. IBM officials provided few details about the layoff but did launch a counteroffensive called Project Match to connect displaced U.S. workers with job openings overseas.

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