The "Education" of Outsourcing

By now, most people have heard of or have had first hand experience with outsourcing. Companies participate in outsourcing mainly to reduce internal costs but also to focus on their core competencies. They most often outsource routine work efforts but have also been outsourcing large development projects as well. I do wonder, however, if the diminishing level of education in our country is connected to this in any way. Is it facilitating outsourcing?

While the US is home to some of the world's most renowned schools and colleges, only 33% of our workforce pursues higher education past high school. This is lower than the mean for most developed countries. While lacking in developed physical infrastructure and many basic amenities, countries like India and China have been aggressive about providing college education to their growing workforce. Though these schools do not necessarily have the most leading edge equipment, they do offer rigorous career development programs. Graduates often get jobs in call centers or IT companies and have contributed to the development of these countries. This developing workforce is leveraged for its knowledge and its affordability by US companies. US Companies can employ more people from places like China or India at considerably lower costs than possible in the US. But, there are so many people who are paid minimum wage in our country. Why doesn't our government take a more active approach in supporting them through vocational or industry-specific programs that will give them long term skills - such as for Network Operations Centers or even for application testing? It is true that if more people in the US were to get higher education, their pay rate would likely increase - that is just the way our economy works. But, more graduates competing for the same job would possibly balance out wages as well.

I also wonder if we are losing many of our college graduates to other countries. There were over 565,000 foreign students in US schools between 2004-2005, a large number from both India and China. While I don't have exact numbers, I am sure a huge percentage have gone back to their countries of origin and thus have contributed to the lower education levels of the US. In addition, the knowledge they have acquired from US based programs has not directly helped our economy. I am sure though that this is something that the US has not changed due to trade policies that it has established with other countries. None the less, it is a topic of concern.