Outsourcing Is Becoming a Harder Sell in the U.S.

While white-collar American workers fret over the possibility that their jobs will be outsourced and politicians call for more restrictions on offshoring, even some US business owners fear that outsourcing may ultimately be to their detriment. According to a recent study, 80 percent of senior executives believe that outsourcing is good for the global economy. Yet only 58 percent of American executives said that outsourcing was good or very good for their company. Such ambivalence may be a result of the current political climate in the US, but it may also reflect deeper concerns within the business community over the value of moving work to other countries. "On and on it goes," says one specialty parts manufacturer who is moving part of his operations to China. A reluctant outsourcer who sees no other way to keep up with his competition, he cautions that "We've got to stop it, [but] manufacturers in this country can't stop that without our government taking action." The US Senate has already moved to limit government contractors' ability to outsource work, but Congress has not agreed on any comprehensive restrictions on offshoring in the private sector. – YaleGlobal