The connotation associated with the idea of outsourcing depends on who is hearing the term. If it is a businessman he will think of all the money he saves by getting cheaper labor and, possibly, saving on taxes. If it is an average American, she could be thinking about the inconvenience of listening to someone with a thick accent trying to explain to her how to fix her TV, lost domestic jobs and past scandals of American companies using sweatshops. If it is a worker in a third world country, he hears an opportunity to earn money without an education and being able to provide for his family. The macroeconomic view will aggregate all of these benefits and disadvantages of outsourcing on the foreign and domestic economies in order to determine …show more content…
In fact, outsourcing had a stronger impact on labor productivity than any other factor in the regression analysis. It is more than twice as strongly correlated than the next strongest associated factor, which is 2.69 compared to .97 (The Extent and Impact of Outsourcing: Evidence from Germany, 2012). These results show a strong, positive correlation between outsourcing and labor productivity. There are some problems that the country that outsources experiences, like losing jobs. The textile and clothing industry in America loses a lot of production labor to other countries. In 2004, about 100,000 people in the United States lost their jobs, while numerous factories closed (Marchant and Kumar, 2005). At that time, the loss of jobs was worsening the trade deficit with the countries to which the textile jobs were being outsourced. Even now, it is a prevalent viewpoint among blue-collar workers that they are losing countless jobs to workers overseas or across the border. However, the, often temporary, loss of jobs for the workers is not necessarily a bad thing for Americans. In the case of North Carolina, which lost a lot of jobs to outsourcing, there were four times more jobs created and more than half of people who originally lost their jobs were able to find better-paying …show more content…
If companies that provide labor in China and India are competing to have the cheapest, most productive labor they may, and have, give up worker satisfaction in exchange for a higher output. There is a high supply of workers and the jobs they do require very little training, it does not matter if they are happy because there are plenty of people to replace them and turnover costs are low. They also have a higher incentive to exploit slave or child labor to ensure a larger profit. Countries like India do not have the same regulation or human rights programs as countries like the United States, which allows the aforementioned illegal labor markets to exist and be utilized by outsourced labor providers.
To better analyze the costs and benefits of outsourcing from a macroeconomic viewpoint, we should look at it in context of the effect it has on a country’s gross domestic product. A country’s value for gross domestic product is derived from the summation of its population’s consumption, investment, government spending and net
In today’s world, increasing big companies open factories in developing countries but many people said it is unethical and the factories are sweatshops. Most of the sweatshops were opened in east Asia and third-world countries and regions. The companies open the sweatshops in order to get more benefits is a kind of very irresponsible behavior. For example, Apple's factories in China are not good and unethical. Audit finds
...hored, individuals, families, and communities suffer the negative economic consequences due to limited job availability. Most people who work in these industry sectors are blue collars, who are not professional or academically qualified to work in other fields, as a result their job choices are limited, especially when the main industry in that community is to work in the stage of manufacturing. When there is massive unemployment within a single community the loss of manufacturing jobs can threaten consumers, creating other problems in the society that result in economic costs. Such problems may spiral into the loss of one's car or home, personal debt, and the lack of economical means to afford a child's education, thus continuing the cycle of economic poverty. These aforementioned consequences are indirect and important economic effects of offshoring American jobs.
Large corporations such as Nike, Gap, and Reebok and many others from the United States have moved their factories to undeveloped nations; barely pay their employees enough to live on. Countries such as China, Indonesia, and Haiti have readily abundant cheap labor. There should be labor laws or an obligation of respecting workers to provide decent working conditions, fair wages, and safety standards.
Recently outsourcing has been in the news, especially during political election years. It seems to be a phenomenon that is causing much concern among the population. But exactly how is outsourcing effecting both workers and businesses? And is it as big of a problem as politicians describe?
Both sides can agree that outsourcing can be desirable for a business do to the potential profit. It allows goods to be made cheaper, management to run smoother, and money to be made faster (Salanţă 270). Both sides can also agree, however, that U.S. jobs are lost as a result of outsourcing (Ahmed 192), as well as environmental damage being cause due to corporations taking advantage of loose environmental regulations (Marquis 39). Upon digging deeper into this debate, one can find that both sides present very convincing arguments.
Outsourcing emerged on the financial arena during the 1980s and has since then been spreading. Outsourcing production was furthered with the process of globalization which provided a new component leading to the strengthening of resources, skill and labor specializations across the world. The process of outsourcing is using the skill and abilities of a third-party to accommodate society on the foundation of labor. As stated earlier, it was during the 1980s that the process kicked off mainly due to the efforts of corporations when they began to hire labor forces across the world. Even though outsourcing has come out from its developing stages, there are still following effects on the US economy.
As the problem of job outsourcing becomes more of an issue in politics, elected officials like the President and Congress will no longer be able to ignore the dilemma. The war in Iraq has been at the forefront of the presidential race but the importance of outsourcing American jobs seems to have been slightly overshadowed. If the issue of outsourcing is not watched carefully and a definitive plan hammered out, a trickling down of negative effects may occur within the U.S. economy. However, there is a polarized opinion on the effects of this “phenomenon”.
Do you ever wonder what our nations underlying focus is? The answer is simple and should be fairly easy to guess… Money! Outsourcing originated from someone coming up with the idea that we can make products for practically nothing in other countries and make very high profits. Although it seems like a great idea to businesses, it negatively affects our country. American consumers are buying these products that are made in other countries and the companies profits are continuing to rapidly increase. At the same time, people that are in the production field of work in America are losing their jobs because producers would rather pay foreign workers to get the job done for a much lower wage. When it comes down to it, one of the reasons our economy is suffering is because of outsourcing. Basically, it all comes down to money. The consumers don’t pay close enough attention to where the products are made. Therefore, consumers are spending extra money and are causing outsourcing to thrive. The lack of knowledge Americans have on the subject of consumers affecting outsourcing is leading our country to economic stress but if we begin to recognize the issue, the jobs we could potentially save may be our own.
Kibbe, C. (2004, 07 09). Outsourcing: the good, the bad and the inevitable. New Hampshire Business Review, pp. 1A-21A.
American companies purposely make their goods in other countries such as India because their labor practices do not meet US standards and can easily be manipulated for maximum profit. By paying their employees extremely low wages, they are still able to manufacture their products. As a result they pull out more profit that does not have to be given back to their employees due to minimum wage laws not being in effect in these countries. In “Distributional Effects Of Globaliz...
Outsourcing is shifting all of the costs-accounting costs, including personnel, plus the risk of failure and the responsibility for action-to the third party. In return for assuming costs, the third party benefits by controlling the operation (Coughlan 167). This is the basic definition of what outsourcing is. Outsourcing has been around from the beginning of time. In the movie, ?It Started With the Greeks,? they talk about how the Ionians found out that they could go around the world and find products that people back in their home town would buy. This essentially started the idea of outsourcing since the people who wanted the product was unable to get it but, they were able to have someone else do it for them. Once people knew that they could get anything that they wanted from around the world it lead into consumerism. So once someone got the idea to start and do this full time as a job they were able to outsource anything that they wanted.
Large corporations seeking the extra dollar to pocket are willing to spend whatever it takes to reduce the cost of production and increase profit margins. Doing whatever it takes in some instances can help men moving operations overseas to developing countries who are glad to be working. These developing countries unemployment rates are extremely high, so any job that pays is great to have. Americans lose jobs to foreign workers because the American economy is one of the largest in the world and its citizens enjoy great standards of living, when juxtaposed with a city of the same size in Taiwan. Labor costs play a huge and crucial role in corporations, which in turn pay the profits to the corporate giants who run, manage, and own the businesses.
Having poor working conditions impacts the society in such a way that workers are depressed and do not work in peace. Apple should look for ways in which their suppliers can offer working conditions that are humane. If the current suppliers do not improve their working conditions, then Apple should consider looking for other suppliers since the working conditions of their workers should be of most priority (Apple Inc. 2016). Moreover, having good working conditions will attract more qualified personnel into the company, thus increasing the quality of their products. However, the main problem in Apple making sure that their suppliers offer better working conditions is that Apple has no legal liability in any operation that happens in China factories since their ownership is by separate manufacturers. It, therefore, gives Apple the dilemma of choosing between what is correct morally and what is correct legally. It also represents situations that are unfortunate since an action of being socially responsible is not what is best for the running of the business as using cheap labour to minimise cost has led to Apple to achieve margins that are spectacular and profits on its products (Dhaliwal 2011, 59-100). Apple should keep in mind that the aim of business is not always based on making profits since long-term goals are
First of all globalization has led to exploitation of labor. We can’t ignore the fact that ethical aspects of international business deserve special attention. Corruption and engaging in illegal practice to make greater profit is a source of continuing controversy. Sometimes companies go international and move their production to foreign countries so they could employ workers for long hours, at low wages and in poor working conditions (sweat shops). They are also using child labor, the employment of children to a full time work that can be otherwise done by adults all that so they could get out of their responsibility towards their workers by avoiding paying them national insurance …When these multinational firms go abroad they forget all about principles and about human beings and their rights, according to Kent, J., Kinetz, E. & Whehrfritz, G. (2008/March24). Newsweek. Bottom of the barrel. “The dark side of globalization: a vast work force trapped in conditions that verge on slavery”, David, P. Falling of The Edge, Travels through the Dark Heart of Globalization..Nov 2008. (p62) also agrees with them when he explained his concerns about Chinese and Indians t...
People need to get educated about the great impact that offshore outsourcing has on an economy. The global economy has started to thrive and offshore outsourcing has profited the consumers as companies want to cut costs and competition, which is why I support offshore outsourcing jobs to foreign countries. What does it mean to offshore outsource? Let’s first start by explaining what outsourcing means. The basic meaning of outsourcing is to obtain goods or services from an outside source.