Off Shore Outsourcing only 9% of the Layoffs

The New York Times > Business > New Report Says Outsourcing Causes 9% of U.S. Layoffs: "

WASHINGTON, June 10 (Reuters) - The bulk of outsourced jobs never leave U.S. shores, the government said on Thursday in a new report suggesting concerns over American workers losing jobs to cheaper foreign labor may be exaggerated.
Nine percent of non-seasonal U.S. layoffs in the first quarter were due to outsourcing, but less than a third of the work was sent overseas, the U.S. Labor Department said in releasing new figures on mass layoffs and outsourcing.
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'In more than seven out of 10 cases, the work activities were reassigned to places elsewhere in the U.S.,' the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its report on mass layoffs for the January-to-March period.
Organized labor, critical of the administration's record on jobs, has promised to make outsourcing an issue in this year's presidential election.
While the figures offer the first official measure of the impact of outsourcing on U.S. employment, they count only layoffs at companies where at least 50 people filed for unemployment insurance during a five-week period and the layoff lasted more than 30 days. " - Reuters

The reality is that most outsourcing does NOT go over seas. In fact a good deal goes into creating small businesses in the U.S. Functions that were part of large corporations that do not meet the definition of a core strategic competency are usually the areas that get outsources first. Often to smaller US businesses. The information above appears to bear this out. Certain industries however, such as call centers, appear to have a higher proportion of work farmed out overseas. Especially to Chindia. -- zzb