The benefits and costs of outsourcing for America

Essay by d3v14ntCollege, UndergraduateA, April 2007

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America is known for being the land of opportunity. With a very high quality of life and low unemployment rates, many people have left their countries, ways of life, and even families for the opportunities that exist here. The American people also have a great sense of pride and want to protect what is enjoyed here. Americans are grateful to work and enjoy the fruits of their labor - and rightfully so. In spite of this, America has recently had to find ways to remain competitive with other countries.

In recent years, due to catalysts such as the Internet, there has been an increase in global economics, or businesses conducting business all over the globe and collaborating with other countries. Because of this, each country is forced to remain competitive, which has required companies to keep prices low. Sometimes, companies change their production strategies to remain competitive. Sometimes, companies lay people off to cut costs.

This has many Americans are fearful that they will lose their jobs to other countries by means of outsourcing. The definition of outsourcing is the delegation of tasks or jobs from internal production to an external entity, such as a subcontractor. Most recently, it has come to mean the elimination of in-house staffing to overseas staffing, where salaries are markedly lower. It became a popular buzzword in business and management in the 1990's (Outsourcing, April 12, 2007).

Outsourcing has been occurring for decades and has affected the manufacturing sector for a long time. Since cheap manual labor was available overseas, corporations became profitable by outsourcing tasks to foreign markets.

In the early years of the United States' history, American companies outsourced tasks of building covered wagon covers and clipper ships' sails to workers in Scotland, with raw materials imported from India. England's textile industry became...