Testimony
of
Ronil
Hira, Ph.D., P.E.
Chair,
R&D Policy Committee The Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers - United States of America
To
The
The
Committee on Small Business
United States House of Representatives
On
Global
Outsourcing of Engineering Jobs:
Recent Trends and Possible Implications
18
June 2003
1.
Introductory Remarks
Let
me begin by thanking Chairman Manzullo and other distinguished
Members of the House Committee on Small Business for
inviting IEEE-USA to testify on the subject of the global
outsourcing of white-collar jobs an increasingly
controversial issue with serious implications for individual
Americans and the future economic and technological
competitiveness of the United States.
My
name is Ron Hira and I am a Post Doctoral Fellow at
Columbia Universitys Center for Science, Policy
and Outcomes in Washington, D.C. I am testifying here
on behalf of the more than 235,000 U.S. members of the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. I
chair IEEE-USAs Research and Development Policy
Committee and am an active member of its Career and
Workforce Policy Committee.
The
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is
a transnational technical and professional society made
up of more than 382,000 individual members in 150 countries.
The IEEEs primary purposes are to advance the
theory and practice of electrical, electronics, computer
and software engineering; improve the careers of our
members and increase their ability to innovate and create
wealth for the benefit of the societies in which they
live and work. IEEE-USA was established in 1973
in the midst of an earlier economic downturn
to promote the professional careers and technology policy
interests of IEEEs U.S. members.
Nearly
70% of IEEE-USAs members work for private businesses,
primarily in the aerospace and defense, bio-medical
technology, computers and communications, electrical
and electronics equipment manufacturing and electric
power industries. Approximately 1/3 of our industry
members work for firms with 500 or fewer employees.
Ten percent of our members work for Federal, state and
local governments. Another ten percent teach at American
schools of engineering or work at non-profit research
organizations. Most of the rest are self-employed and
work as consultants to businesses and government.
2.
Global Outsourcing Recent Trends and Future Projections
Pete
Engardio and his colleagues at Business Week
have assembled a comprehensive and very compelling description
of the global outsourcing phenomenon. The graphics,
statistical tables and sidebars in their February 3,
2003 article entitled Is Your Job Next explain
related trends and their implications for white collar
workers, including U.S. engineers and scientists, in
startling detail.
The
article provides an alarming picture of the kinds and
numbers of white-collar jobs that major American companies
are shifting to overseas locations, mostly in developing
economies in the Far East, Latin America and Eastern
Europe. The article also makes it very clear that the
most important economic and strategic driver behind
global outsourcing is the ready availability of substantial
numbers of skilled professionals in other countries
who are willing and able to work for much less than
their counterparts in the United States.
The
following tables describe global outsourcing of white
collar jobs in more detail. To illustrate the trend
, the first table identifies several major U.S. based
employers who are currently outsourcing important scientific
and engineering work to lower cost, offshore locations.
Table
1 - Major U.S. Exporters of Science and Engineering
Jobs
Company
|
Numbers
of Workers and Country
|
Types
of Work
|
Accenture
|
5,000
to the Philippines by 2004
|
Accounting
and software
|
General
Electric
|
20,000
to India and China in 2003
|
Aircraft
and Medical R&D
|
Intel
|
3,000
to India by 2006
|
Chip
design, tech support
|
Microsoft
|
500
to India and China in 2003
|
Software
design, IT support
|
Oracle
|
4,000
in India
|
Software
design and support
|
Phillips
|
700
in China
|
Consumer
electronics R&D
|
Source:
Business Week
|
The
second table compares recent increases in the numbers
of natural science and engineering degrees awarded in
countries to which white-collar jobs are being outsourced
with similar statistics for the United States.
Table
2 - Science and Engineering Degree Production in Selected
Countries
Country
|
BA
and BS Degrees
|
MA,
MS and PhD Degrees
|
|
1989
|
1999
|
1989
|
1999
|
China
|
127,000
|
322,000
|
19,000
|
41,000
|
India
|
165,000
|
251,000
|
64,000
|
63,000
|
Philippines
|
40,000
|
66,000
|
255
|
937
|
Mexico
|
32,000
|
57,000
|
340
|
63,000
|
United
States
|
196,000
|
220,000
|
61,000
|
77,000
|
Source:
National Science Foundation
|
The
third table describes the cost of engineering talent
in the United States and four other countries based
on the concept of purchasing power parity.
Table
3 Annual Salary Requirements for an Engineer
in Selected Countries
Company
|
Purchasing Power Parity
|
Annual Salary
|
United States
|
1.0
|
$70,000
|
Hungary
|
0.367
|
$25,690
|
China
|
0.216
|
$15,120
|
Russia
|
0.206
|
$14,420
|
India
|
0.194
|
$13,580
|
Source
- Ron Hira, Columbia University
|
The
fourth table includes estimates of the numbers and kinds
of white-collar jobs likely to be outsourced in the
years immediately ahead.
Table
4 Projected Numbers of US Jobs to be Moved Offshore*
Profession
|
By
2005 |
By
2010
|
By
2015
|
Architecture
|
32,000 |
83,000
|
184,000
|
Business
Operations
|
61,000 |
162,000
|
348,000
|
Computer
Science
|
109,000 |
277,000
|
473,000 |
Law
|
14,000 |
35,000
|
75,000
|
Life
Sciences
|
3,700 |
14,000
|
37,000
|
Management
|
37,000 |
118,000
|
288,000
|
*
To low wage countries such as China, India, Mexico
and the Philippines
|
Source
Forrester Research Inc.
|
3.
Global Outsourcing of Jobs Exacerbates U.S. Engineering
Unemployment
Unemployment
among Americas engineers has spiked sharply upward
from 2.0% in 2001 to 4.2% in 2002 to more than 6.0%
in the first quarter of 2003.
The
unemployment problem is even worse for all electrical,
electronics, computer and software engineers. According
to the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the U.S. Department
of Labor, unemployment among electrical and electronics
engineers reached 7.0% in the first quarter of 2003.
6.5% of all computer hardware engineers and 7.5% of
computer software engineers were also unemployed during
the same period. These are unprecedented levels for
each occupation.
IEEE-USA
is concerned that these increases in engineering unemployment
may not be a short term, cyclical phenomenon that will
correct itself when the economy begins its long anticipated
upturn. Instead, current engineering unemployment is
the result of much more fundamental structural changes
in the U.S. economy that could have very serious, long-term
affects not only on the future viability of engineering
as a high-wage/high value added career but on
the nations economic and technological competitiveness
and the continuing ability of small businesses to be
a major driver of innovation and job creation in the
United States.
The
current economic and employment problems we face are
complex and interrelated.
There are no easy answers or silver bullets in terms
of public policy recommendations. But we do think that
the continuing movement of manufacturing facilities
and blue-collar jobs, and the growing willingness of
major employers to move essential service functions
and white collar jobs of all kinds to lower cost, offshore
locations is a major contributing factor to our current
unemployment crisis.
4.
Global Outsourcing Has Economic, Technological and Security
Implications
Traditionally,
the United States has been a leader in technological
innovation a major contributor to improvements
in productivity, economic growth and personal well-being
that took place during the 1990s. Engineers and
scientists at colleges and universities, at businesses
of all sizes and at public and private research organizations
have long been prime movers in the conversion of scientific
discoveries into useful products and services and in
technological innovation. A nations ability to
innovate is at the core of its economic and technological
strength. Location matters when it comes to the innovation
process because it generates enormous local spillover
benefits and feeds on itself. An obvious example is
Silicon Valley.
Global
outsourcing of high wage/high value added engineering
jobs threatens this leadership on a number of fronts.
As
I said at the outset of my testimony, the causes of
current economic and related employment problems are
complex and appropriate policy options for addressing
them will require some creativity. We do know that offshore
outsourcing is accelerating and policymakers can mitigate
some of its negative impacts.
Before
we can deal effectively with complex economic problems,
we must first learn more about their causes and effects.
Reliable statistical information about the current magnitude
of global outsourcing and its effects on national and
international labor markets is sorely lacking. One policy
recommendation, therefore, is to pool the resources
of interested parties educators, employers, government
agencies, labor unions and professional societies
to identify the kinds and possible sources of statistical
information needed to get our arms around
the global outsourcing phenomenon.
The
current non-immigrant system that brings in temporary
foreign workers with H-1B (specialty occupations) and
L-1 (intra-company transfers) visas has accelerated
movement of work offshore as temporary workers in management
positions outsource work to overseas colleagues, and
as temporary workers who have returned home use their
knowledge and connections in the U.S. market to competitively
bid for outsourced work. A policy shift away from reliance
on guest workers and towards permanent immigration would
help minimize this problem.
Increasing
reliance on high tech temporary workers has had other
negative impacts apart from increased unemployment.
Charges of abuse and exploitation of temporary workers
are on the rise. Similarly, there are frequent reports
of displaced American engineers and IT workers being
forced to train their L-1 visa replacements as a condition
of their severance package. The H-1B and L-1 visa programs
should be reformed to limit these abuses and bring the
programs back in line with Congress original intent.
Much engineering and information technology work needs
to be done onsite in the U.S., and American workers
should have preference over foreign guest workers.
Additionally,
Congress should monitor current World Trade Organization
(WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
mode 4, movement of natural persons, negotiations. Many
countries have pushed the U.S. to make it even easier
to misuse the H-1B and L-1 visas.
Another
possible policy option is to identify appropriate tax
and other financial incentives needed to encourage employers
to create and retain more high wage/high value added
manufacturing and service sector jobs by establishing
and maintaining more high end research, design, development
and manufacturing facilities in the United States.
Current
offshore outsourcing has affected U.S. workers more
than larger U.S. companies, so another appropriate policy
response is to provide assistance to employed, underemployed
and dislocated workers in the form of tax incentives
to help pay for lifelong learning (continuing education
and training), including tax credits for employers that
offer training or retraining in high demand technical,
management and marketing skills; tax-favored savings
accounts to help pay for job and career-related education
and training expenses incurred by individual taxpayers;
and possibly even relocation accounts to help workers
move from low growth to high growth labor markets.
And
finally, related to national security considerations,
Congress may wish to increase enforcement of deemed
export laws to reduce the likelihood that mission
critical and other sensitive technologies will be transferred
overseas through global outsourcing of scientific and
engineering jobs.