Can President Obama Save IT Jobs in the United States?
Many IT professionals have seen their jobs diminish as corporate America continues to move jobs offshore to cut costs. Many companies outsource their IT departments to parts of Asia, such as India. The question that lies ahead is that if President Barack Obama can keep companies from moving jobs overseas, who has pledged to keep more jobs in the U.S. Days before his inauguration, Obama told workers in Ohio, “"We're not looking to create just any kind of jobs here; we're looking to create good jobs that pay well and can't be shipped overseas." If he does follow through with his promises and does indeed keep more jobs, such as IT ones, in America, then the need for more certified professionals will be on the rise. That is where IT training will come in handy, so that candidates can get certified and work as IT professionals within American soil.
Obama has his work cut out for him if he does plan to keep jobs within the country. It's said that U.S. corporations will move at least 140,000 jobs offshore in 2009 and 2010, and more than 50% of those jobs will be in IT, according to a December 2008 report by the Hackett Group, global strategic advisory firm that specializes in outsourcing. The report also stated that by 2010, about 25% of all IT jobs at the world's largest companies by market value will have been moved offshore.
To combat the moves, Obama initially proposed that there be a $3,000 tax credit this year and next for every net new job created. However, outsourcing big shots say that's it still not enough of an incentive to keep the jobs here in the U.S. since it's still cheaper to have someone working India for only $8,000 a year, where as in here, the IT professional earns an average of about $75,000, says ary Jo Morris, president of World Sourcing Services for Computer Sciences Corp.
The proposed tax credit was actually pushed aside and other tax cuts aimed at creating jobs were included in the $819 billion economic stimulus package, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, that passed the House on Jan. 28.
However, several initiative aimed at creating more jobs in the $20 billion stimulus package is directed at health information technology and the building of an infrastructure to promote the electronic exchange of health records. That stimulus will create or retain 86,820 jobs for one year in high-paying industries, such as computer hardware manufacturing, software, and IT services, according to the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank focused on public policies to advance technological innovation. If that is true, obtaining some IT training to learn how to work with such technology would be very beneficial. An IT certificationIn a program that works with such technology would allow an individual to be a part of the job increase in this sector.
Another $6 billion of the stimulus act aims to improve broadband Internet access in the U.S., which would also create or retain some 29,892 direct telecom jobs for a year and 8,304 capital equipment jobs, according to the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. Finally, $11 billion in funds that will go to modernizing the power grid in the U.S. will create or retain 64,509 direct and indirect IT jobs for a year, according to the foundation. With much of the jobs focused on IT, obtaining a certification would be very wise for individuals looking to get some training and a great way to do it would be taking a computer based training course that would allow those looking to get certified to learn on their own free time while still working full-time jobs.
"IT did pretty well. There's a real focus on digital infrastructures, there's real money there," says Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. "It basically affirmed the commitment that the country's building out IT networks is important to our future."
So, even if the stimulus package doesn't readily make companies keep all their job in house, it may give them some extra incentives to choose to send work to domestic firms rather than outsourcing to other countries, suggests Jagdish Dalal, managing director of thought leadership at the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, an industry group of outsourcing leaders from Fortune 500 companies and other organizations. The reason is because it takes time to set up an offshore workflow model and spending in the stimulus package will take action immediately, which will ultimately be a challenge for offshore outsourcing destinations like India and China, he says.
Many IT professionals who have lost their jobs to outsourcing have high hopes that this new administration will indeed keep jobs here, so that Americans can flourish instead of taking their chances for a better future away by sending their jobs to other countries for cheaper labor.
