Study Plays Down Export of Computer Jobs

JoAnnP38 · Feb 24, 2006

A recent ACM study has found that the fears of offshore outsourcing undermining the United States' competitive advantage in computer science and technology have been overstated. The year-long study found that just 2 percent to 3 percent of IT jobs would likely be outsourced annually, and that the future will see more jobs created than lost, provided that the United States continues its migration toward high-value sectors, such as supplying biology, business, and other fields with information technology. While IT employment is higher today than it was at the height of the dot-com days, the fear that jobs are being exported undermines student interest in technology, according to ACM President David Patterson. A survey last year found that just 1 in 75 college students planned to major in computer science, down from 1 in 30 in 2000. "The perception among high school students and their parents is that the game is over--that all computing jobs are going overseas," said Patterson. "It's an extraordinarily widely held misperception." In that sense, warns Patterson, the fear that American technological leadership is in decline could be a self-fulfilling prophecy, as waning student interest driven by the errant notion that the good jobs are going overseas could sap the U.S. talent pool, forcing technology companies to look for skilled workers overseas. While ACM's findings are reassuring to a software industry more susceptible than most to exporting jobs overseas, the report also notes that technology retraining programs and computer education are still in need of reform. The ACM Job Migration Task Force report, "Globalization and Offshoring of Software," is available at http://www.acm.org/globalizationreport/
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Study Plays Down Export of Computer Jobs

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Study Plays Down Export of Computer Jobs

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