|
Disappearing jobs outsourcing consolidation Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.cleveland.com/business/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business/106233660174680.xmlhttp://www.cleveland.com/business/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business/106233660174680.xml
Disappearing jobs: Outsourcing, consolidation thin a variety of fields
09/01/03
Alison Grant
Plain Dealer Reporter
Not so long ago, it was mostly America's blue-collar jobs being sucked into an economic whirlpool that dumped them on foreign shores.
Now white-collar jobs are churning in the same vortex.
Banks and computer firms have joined machine-tool makers, textile producers and electronics manufacturers in sending jobs across the Atlantic and the Pacific.
And it's not just call centers and clerical positions that are moving to India, Malaysia, Australia and Hong Kong as U.S. companies chase low-wage workers.
Investment banks such as JPMorgan Chase Co. are outsourcing tasks like financial modeling and number-crunching, normally done by junior analysts, the Financial Times of London reported this month. The shift is intended to boost profits by freeing JPMorgan's senior analysts to concentrate on more companies and sectors.
Deloitte Consulting expects the financial-services industry to ship business totaling $356 billion offshore in the next five years.
Consolidation is thinning other occupations.
The U.S. population of farmers, ranchers and agricultural managers will drop by more than a fifth - 318,000 jobs - by 2010 with the spread of megafarms, the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics projects. Consolidation of radio and TV stations is expected to reduce the market for on-air announcers by 6 percent, or 4,000 people, during the same period.
Other losses come from automation.
Internet purchasing has weakened demand for order clerks. Messengers and couriers are losing ground to electronic information-handling, too. ATMs are the new bank tellers, and desktop publishing is taking the work of pre-press technicians.
Automation will shave 13,000 utility meter reader jobs by 2010, the government estimates; computerized mail processing will replace 4,500 postal workers.
Computer work itself is not immune from downsizing. Information technology jobs are contracting in ways unimaginable when the sector was sizzling just a few years back.
IT project managers are close to obsolete, and companies are slashing their numbers, says Jane Paradiso, national practice leader for work force planning at the Washington office of Watson Wyatt, an international human- resources consultant.
Computer operator jobs are falling by the wayside because of new software that makes systems user-friendly, while the rise of PCs is cutting demand for data- entry and information-processing workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.
Some industries where growth is sluggish will, nonetheless, have plenty of openings. Carpentry is limited by the use of prefab components and more-efficient construction. But the sheer size of the field -1.2 million U.S. carpenters - will keep demand strong as some leave the occupation permanently.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
agrant@plaind.com, 216-999-4758
© 2003 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.
Copyright 2003 cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
