Indian Americans are squeezed by outsourcing

The game is fast changing for the Indian BPO industry, as for several players; entry into the billion-dollar club may be round the corner.

Ron Hira‘s views on outsourcing have had an impact on US policymakers. But he’s also the man who MNCs and India Inc love to hate. Ron Hira is a well-known expert on offshore outsourcing and has testified before the US Congress twice on its implications. He is also co-author of the book, Outsourcing America, which has generated a lot of debate. And Dr Hira is a man who many Indian and American companies love to hate. Of course, he does not agree with the view that he’s anti-outsourcing. He feels that the discussion on offshoring should be much more nuanced to more faithfully reflect reality. “Our book originates from how the nature of work and the economy and politics in America has transformed over the past 20 years. What’s good for America is no longer good for IBM (or take your pick of major US corporation) and vice versa. But IBM has enormous influence over the political process, ensuring that it gains even at America’s expense. So, offshoring has been - falsely- framed as America against the countries gaining from outsourcing, such as India. I am genuinely ecstatic that India as a country has the opportunity to improve the lives of its citizens. My concern is that America’s policymakers are working against what’s in the interest of the majority of Americans, making their lives worse. The problem isn’t about what India, or other low-cost countries, have done, it’s about what the US has not done in response to this economic change,” Dr Hira told ET. He feels that Indian Americans are not monolithic on the issue of outsourcing. “Those who are most vocal in the discussion on outsourcing are benefitting the most - by being liaisons within corporations or by taking advantage as entrepreneurs. Since they are making tons of money from offshoring it should be no surprise that they are promoting it. But just because the vocal portion of the Indian American community supports outsourcing doesn’t mean that a majority of the community supports it. I have received many emails from Indians in America who are being squeezed by outsourcing. Second, what is good for India isn’t automatically good for the Indian American community or vice versa,” says Dr Hira who is an assistant professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology where he specialises in engineering workforce issues, high-skill immigration, and innovation policy. He feels that Indian American organisations should go in for a major makeover, so that they represent the interests of Indian Americans rather than the interests of the narrow and deep pocketed corporates. Dr Hira who recently served as a consultant to the US House of Representatives committee on science & technology and helped organise a series of hearings on the ‘globalisation of innovation & R&D’, feels that in the run-up to the US Presidential elections, the US electorate is considering economy as clearly one of the most, if not most, important issues. “I think most of the discussion is rhetorical so far. Job creation has been weak for this whole decade and people are rightfully feeling uneasy, even if it hasn’t showed up in traditional metrics like unemployment and inflation. Much of the presidential rhetoric has focused on free trade agreements such as NAFTA, yet even if NAFTA was renegotiated it would have zero effect on white-collar outsourcing,” he feels. The first step, for him, would be to recognise that high-wage jobs for US workers don’t simply fall from the sky. “The notion that more education will automatically generate success for US workers and for the US economy is downright dangerous. Not because more education is a bad thing, but because it gives us a false sense that we will be okay as long as we have more/better education. US workers are losing due to offshoring yet they have no voice in Washington policy-making. We know that outsourcing results in job loss and lower wages for US workers, yet we have no policies to redress this inequity,” he says. As for immigration policy reforms, Dr Hira feels that while permanent immigration is good for Americans, guest worker programmes are vulnerable to abuse.