Catherwood LibraryILR School

While the widespread loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs and low-wage service jobs to foreign countries has long been a major issue in American workplaces, researchers and labor groups are increasingly sounding the alarm on a rising tide of white-collar technical and professional jobs being sent overseas. Concealed by tight labor markets throughout the 1990's, the current recession is revealing the magnitude of job loss in the high-tech and engineering sectors, with one recent study predicting the loss of 3.3 million U.S. jobs---worth $136 billion in wages---due to 'offshore outsourcing' over the next fifteen years. With many of today's jobs not reliant on geographic location, faculty member Lance Compa of Cornell University's ILR School has pointed out that this trend is likely to grow, and has suggested that improved retraining and educational opportunities may be needed to address employer complaints of an under-skilled U.S. workforce, and stem job loss.