US Offshoring: Rethinking the Response

The paper, on the basis of a research, reveals that by 2008, U.S. companies are expected to offshore 2.8 million jobs, affecting less than 2 percent of all service employment. This is far fewer than the normal rate of job turnover in the economy: 4.7 million Americans started jobs with a new employer in May 2005. Companies benefiting from offshoring could provide generous severance packages and fund wage insurance programs that make up some or all of the difference between workers' previous wages and their new ones, thus encouraging them to get back into the workforce quickly and avoid long-term unemployment. These measures, if properly implemented, would cost only a fraction of the economic benefits that offshoring will bring.