Where the Jobs Aren’t
May 23rd, 2005 at 7:51 am by Susie
There’s a very simple way to fix this. Businesses should train their own employees to do the work:
SAN FRANCISCO — The number of undergraduates signing up for computer degrees is falling fast, making IBM and other tech companies worry that there soon won’t be enough skilled U.S. workers to meet demand.
New enrollment in North American computer science and engineering programs has dropped four years straight, falling 10% during the 2003-04 school year from the year before, says the Computing Research Association, a trade group for computer professors.
That’s because good tech jobs have been hard to find, professors say. “Students are responding to the alarming rate that the job market changed (during the dot-com bust),” says Ohio State University computer professor Stuart Zweben. “They’re also concerned about offshoring of jobs.”
Ironically, that could lead to more offshoring. Many low-level programming jobs have already been sent to such countries as India and China. But high-level jobs combining technical and business skills are still in the USA. That could change if there’s not enough workers to fill them.
And American business all shocked to shit about these revelations. They outsource jobs, hold wages stagnant and then wonder why students are training for these jobs.
Your point about high tech jobs remaining in the U.S. is just wrong. Most of the outsourcing going on these days is in EXACTLY those jobs. Bill Gates recently request the Administration to change the regulations to allow him to IMPORT more lower wage Indian programmers.
This “study” is another dodge to JUSTIFY the elimination of American jobs and to blame the American people and American educational system for it.
And if there were a shortage of physicists, chemists, or electrical engineers, would you also think that companies should train their staff (office and clerical personnel, I assume) to do that work?
Having both taught CS (at Brown) and done in-house training for companies, I am quite certain that the idea of companies training up their own computer scientists is completely out of the question.
I used to be a techie–Ph.D. physical science. I’m now a lawyer. More money; better work; more respect.
And that’s all there is to it. Corporate America doesn’t value its techies very high, so has to import them from elsewhere. Same with nurses. Or braceros. On the other hand, have you ever heard of a shortage of US-born CEOs?
And no, Virginia, it is not because of poor US math-science education. My killer stat: the Reagan-Carter military buildup created a tremendous demand for techies, manifested by a real pay increase. Unsurprisingly, the number of engineering students went up tremendously. The kicker–their median math SAT went up. There’s plenty of talent out there–and the talent is smart enough to know to go elsewhere.
College kids are smart. They didn’t want to move to Bangalore to use their Comp Sci degree.
Talk about killing the goose that lays the golden egg! Where do all these American CEO’s think that they will be when the USA is just another 3rd world country? On the unemployment line with the rest of us, I’ll bet.
“Many low-level programming jobs have already been sent to such countries as India and China. But high-level jobs combining technical and business skills are still in the USA. That could change if there’s not enough workers to fill them.”
What I want to know is how do you get the high level job if you can’t get any experience from the outsourced low level jobs? I’ve looked at employment listings, find me one that doesn’t say 3-5 yrs experince.
# la Says:
May 23rd, 2005 at 10:43 am
Talk about killing the goose that lays the golden egg! Where do all these American CEO’s think that they will be when the USA is just another 3rd world country? On the unemployment line with the rest of us, I’ll bet.
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Tell me, why would CEOs care? These are people making millions of dollars in base salary, each year. The better-off among them many times that.
They’ll be wherever the living is easy for people of infinite wealth, tossing a coin at a cabana boy and saying, “Bring beer, muchee coldee, you sabee? MUCHEE coldee. And quick.”
Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog:
That is exactly the point. The corporate aristocracy will NOT be in the unemployment line with the rest. They will have their money offshore in bank accounts in Switzerland and the Bahamas, their funds will be in foreign stocks. They are the ones who have the least to worry, but the most to gain if the US-economy goes down the drain.
Sure, they will complain when they cannot afford the yacht anymore, but they will keep the house when the rest of the population becomes homeless, they can hire servants who are willing to work for food and shelter. They can abuse their workers privately and publicly and get away with it, because who would complain when there is no alternative?
95% of whoever is at the top now will be at the top when the economy tanks, and even more at the top than they are now. In absolute terms their wealth will decrease, but in relative terms (relative to the rest of America) their wealth and power will increase.
I don’t know if the orginal is still up, but from BusinessWeek in early March:
U.S. software programmers’ career prospects, once dazzling, are now in doubt. Just look at global giants, from IBM (IBM ) and Electronic Data Systems (EDS ) to Lehman Brothers (LEH ) and Merrill Lynch (MER ). They’re rushing to hire tech workers offshore while liquidating thousands of jobs in America. In the past three years, offshore programming jobs have nearly tripled, from 27,000 to an estimated 80,000, according to Forrester Research Inc. (FORR ). And Gartner Inc. figures that by yearend, 1 of every 10 jobs in U.S. tech companies will move to emerging markets. In other words, recruiters who look at Stephen will also consider someone like Deepa — who’s willing to do the same job for one-fifth the pay. U.S. software developers “are competing with everyone else in the world who has a PC,” says Robert R. Bishop, chief executive of computer maker Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI ).
For many of America’s 3 million software programmers, it’s paradise lost. Just a few years back, they held the keys to the Information Age. Their profession not only lavished many with stock options and six-figure salaries but also gave them the means to start companies that could change the world — the next Microsoft, Netscape (AOL ), or Google. Now, these veterans of Silicon Valley and Boston’s Route 128 exchange heart-rending job-loss stories on Web sites such as yourjobisgoingtoindia.com. Suddenly, the programmers share the fate of millions of industrial workers, in textiles, autos, and steel, whose jobs have marched to Mexico and China. [Eyup, the link still works]: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_09/b3872001_mz001.htm
We’ve seen this before at the community college level, though measly little IT guy that I am nobody listens. We crank out so many auto mechanics, massage thearapists, computer assisted designers and, yes, computer geeks that we flood the local markets, oft-times leaving people to find work outside of their studies. I posted the above link internally upon its publication (1 March), yet have seen no indication by our CS dept. to adjust its “this is how you use Excel” approach to say maybe “this is how an OS works” approach. Other than I feel it is very important that people leave here with strong computing skills, I think we do our students a disservice.
Don’t be fooled; it’s a scam. My own university has not one, not two, but three separate and fully populated computer science and computer engineering programs, despite the utter lack of tech work in the area. I haven’t yet worked out the angle, but I suspect one or more of the following:
1. Drumming up interest in Education, Inc.
2. Encouraging even more unwitting techs to enter the market, and thus depress wages further.
3. Providing cover for continued outsourcing. “Well shucks, we don’t WANT to do it, but we just gotta since there are no more CS majors around here.”
Truth be told, the growth of outsourcing is beginning to slow. India is starting to pay its employees too much, you see. Next stop, Manila!
Universities just need to keep their own people employed. If they don’t have students, they have to lay off faculty. There’s no need to look further for conspiracy theories. The same thing has been going on with graduate programs in the humanities for years despite the complete and utter lack of new faculty jobs. It’s completely unethical, but institutions have survival instincts.
I’ve talked to unemployed accountants and techies in mid-career. These were good, solid Orange County, CA Republicans, mid-level managers, some of them. They talked about having their whole departments outsourced.