Journal DAldredge's Journal: As U.S. high-tech wages slide, fewer jobs may head overseas 1
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2169472
WASHINGTON -- As U.S. companies send more high-tech work overseas, they are creating a "downward pressure on salaries" that may help slow American job losses, a technology industry leader told Congress on Monday.
Indeed, U.S. workers may have to get used to lower wages, said Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America. Unlike the late 1990s when the tech sector was booming, U.S. workers no longer can expect employers to offer "six-figure incomes to technical people with little or no actual on-the-job training," Miller told the House Committee on Small Business.
Americans must face the "hard truth" that offshore companies not only offer information technology services for "a fraction of the cost," but they can "compete for increasingly more sophisticated and complex IT work," he said.
The silver lining of this wage pressure, Miller said, is that "a more competitive payroll picture may undercut" the push to move U.S. jobs offshore.
Miller said cutting wages is not the only strategy for staying competitive. He said a key step is to provide greater value, which means raising the skills of U.S. workers and the creativity of U.S. companies.
"The U.S. cannot legislate or regulate its way out of this perplexing situation," Miller said. "At the same time, however, to do nothing -- as Bobby McFerrin sang, Don't Worry, Be Happy -- is to risk an ever-increasing number of knowledge worker jobs disappearing overseas."
Miller called on Congress to boost funding for tech education, approve trade agreements to open more markets to U.S. goods and services, and make the tax credit for research and development permanent.
At the same time, "companies must do their part by providing internships, mentorships and other mechanisms" to draw young people to the field.
He also called for the creation of a National Center for IT Work Force Competitiveness to study industry trends and analyze work force skills.
But another witness, Natasha Humphries of Santa Clara, Calif., said that despite her efforts to boost her value through greater education, she still lost her job this year.
Humphries, a 1996 Stanford graduate, focused on acquiring "new skills through classes, seminars and self study" to become a senior software quality assurance engineer at Palm.
She said Palm began a campaign to outsource all testing assignments to India and China, which accepted contracts paying $2 to $5 an hour, compared with wages of $30 to $60 an hour in California.
Humphries said she tried to upgrade her qualifications. But she said Palm management discouraged her from enhancing her skills. In August she was fired. The reason was her paycheck, not her lack of skills, she said.
WASHINGTON -- As U.S. companies send more high-tech work overseas, they are creating a "downward pressure on salaries" that may help slow American job losses, a technology industry leader told Congress on Monday.
Indeed, U.S. workers may have to get used to lower wages, said Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America. Unlike the late 1990s when the tech sector was booming, U.S. workers no longer can expect employers to offer "six-figure incomes to technical people with little or no actual on-the-job training," Miller told the House Committee on Small Business.
Americans must face the "hard truth" that offshore companies not only offer information technology services for "a fraction of the cost," but they can "compete for increasingly more sophisticated and complex IT work," he said.
The silver lining of this wage pressure, Miller said, is that "a more competitive payroll picture may undercut" the push to move U.S. jobs offshore.
Miller said cutting wages is not the only strategy for staying competitive. He said a key step is to provide greater value, which means raising the skills of U.S. workers and the creativity of U.S. companies.
"The U.S. cannot legislate or regulate its way out of this perplexing situation," Miller said. "At the same time, however, to do nothing -- as Bobby McFerrin sang, Don't Worry, Be Happy -- is to risk an ever-increasing number of knowledge worker jobs disappearing overseas."
Miller called on Congress to boost funding for tech education, approve trade agreements to open more markets to U.S. goods and services, and make the tax credit for research and development permanent.
At the same time, "companies must do their part by providing internships, mentorships and other mechanisms" to draw young people to the field.
He also called for the creation of a National Center for IT Work Force Competitiveness to study industry trends and analyze work force skills.
But another witness, Natasha Humphries of Santa Clara, Calif., said that despite her efforts to boost her value through greater education, she still lost her job this year.
Humphries, a 1996 Stanford graduate, focused on acquiring "new skills through classes, seminars and self study" to become a senior software quality assurance engineer at Palm.
She said Palm began a campaign to outsource all testing assignments to India and China, which accepted contracts paying $2 to $5 an hour, compared with wages of $30 to $60 an hour in California.
Humphries said she tried to upgrade her qualifications. But she said Palm management discouraged her from enhancing her skills. In August she was fired. The reason was her paycheck, not her lack of skills, she said.
Its so obvious... (Score:1)
Accept lower wages, provide better service and you are employed. Demand higher wages, provide no exclusive service, you are unemployed.
My wife and I both are programmers and we make more individually than many of our friends who work in other fields. Even more than some couples.
When I had my first programming job a couple years ago I was making only $5k less than what my father was making after 15 yea