The Labor Department released a report yesterday that shows that only 2.5% of laid off workers in the first quarter of this year lost their jobs because of work relocation. This is the first government effort to measure the effect of outsourcing on domestic job losses and did not measure the impact of outsourcing on wages. Though there is some question as to whether the numbers undercount the total number of jobs lost off shore, many experts agree that the job market is affected more by other more important factors.
See "Not Many Jobs Are Sent Abroad, U.S. Report Says", Eduardo Porter, The New York Times, June 10, 2004