Get used to it: sending jobs overseas is the way of the future
http://www.theage.com.au/national/get-used-to-it-sending-jobs-overseas-is-the-way-of-the-future-20121009-27bfh.html
Outsourcing has become a dirty word, threatening to cut more jobs of locals as companies seek lower cost of labour and production overseas. Rather than resisting and putting up artificial blocks, which won't work anyway, we should go with the flow. Trade restrictions and doing nothing would only weigh us down and put us further behind the competitors.
Having said the hard truth, outsourcing has gained a momentum of its own. The question is how to ride the storm and survive, if not thrive well. It is a challenge for the state to set the right direction and actually putting money where its mouth is and getting things done. Or else we are doomed. But looking at the way education and health budget is being slashed, procrastination and bickering over unimportant issues, the picture is more gloom than most politicians would like to believe.
Retrenchments have splashed ruthlessly across corporate human resources lately and putting stress not only to those made redundant and their families, but co-workers who are fortunate enough not to be laid off, but left to do the extra jobs of the less fortunate who have been made redundant. The cull and more to come has left deep psychological scars on everyone and
The well-connected and those armed with current, relevant and highly sought after skills have nothing to fear. Most are able to get another position in a related field or industry, often in the ex-employer's competitor firm.
However, as the high performing developing countries with huge economies such as India and China move up the skills and value added ladder, the number and spectrum of jobs they are capable of performing as well as Australians increase as well.
Quote : Occupations most at risk include those in information technology, administration, and jobs in finance and insurance and the professional, scientific and technical services sectors.Indeed, I was taken aback when I realised that some IT and accounting staff processing our requests and orders are based overseas, contactable only by email (which they normally respond within minutes barring time zone difference), and whom we would unlikely to ever meet face-to-face. So it won't be surprising that even scientific trials that require long hours including weekend work, can be moved offshore.
The bottomline for most companies is to get the job accomplished at the least possible cost. The issue is that Australian labour is getting too expensive (to catch up with rising cost of living and aspirations) taking into account extra hours and weekend penalty rates, leave allowance, labour protection laws, workers' compensation and taxes, and a long list of regulatory compliance requirements, which are still unheard of or de-emphasised in most developing countries.
So, where does that leave the majority of the redundant workers? professional nursing or basic home carer for the old age and autistic kids. However, for a middle-ager making a career switch to a highly demanding (both physical strength and mental alertness), it is less than ideal for both the worker and the client.
The young and fit would be better off become skilled tradesmen who are in perpetually short in supply and could pick and choose the type of work to do and when to turn up. This sounds familiar to most households who need small jobs done. Such jobs are difficult to outsource and safe as long as most Australians remain not so handy and technically incompetent.
Australia's education score for high school and universities ranking remain dismally poor compared to US, UK and now Asian schools. Those who complain about competitiveness in local education system should take a look at the level of proficiency that counterparts offshore have attained in Math, Science and languages. The local curriculum is slow in adapting well to current needs and keep up with the fast-changing world. The skills gap can only get more skewed. Concerned more with niceties and political correctness instead of facing up to difficult tasks, majority of our school leavers and graduates can only hope to rest their laurels in gaining local recognition.
NewStart and financial assistance for business start-ups are costly and merely serve as a bridging measure to help Australian families. Most distressing is the recent cut in funding for TAFE courses deemed less essential and important. Inevitably, more will fall beneath the cracks and modern day borderline poverty may worsen. This may just be the beginning of a downward spiral.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/single-parents-fear-newstart-will-set-them-back-20121009-27bas.html
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/tafe-cuts-advice-to-be-kept-secret-20120922-26dud.html
We need more than temporary stop-gaps which will stave off discontent and political inconveniences. But for a nation to remain economically viable in the long run requires better economic planning and proactive education policies.
Afterthought : I have since written an update of the pain outsourcing threatens to affect each and everyone of us.
http://ausletters.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/outsourcing-at-irrational-scale-to.html
