Indian Offshoring Firms Creating American Jobs

By: relawson
Published On: 8/15/2007 12:46:48 AM

Did you know that Indian offshoring firms are now creating American jobs?  InformationWeek (http://www.informati...)is reporting that Indian offshoring giant Wipro is investing in a $600 million company in the US.  The reason is simple: they no longer have access to the same number of H-1b visas that they use to. 

What the Wipro shift towards the United States indicates is that the H-1b visa - when restricted - actually creates jobs locally.  If Wipro had unlimited H-1b visas at their disposal, there would be no reason for them to hire American workers.

I welcome Wipro into the United States provided they hire American workers.  Previously Wipro was a zero-sum gain for American IT professionals.  Now, thanks to the H-1b cap being held at 65,000, opportunities are growing here at home.  In the 80s we welcomed Japanese auto manufacturers provided they build their cars here and employ American workers.  We should at least expect that Wipro's American workforce be staffed by American workers.

Wipro's refusal until now to hire American workers amounts to outright discrimination.  There is no good reason that over 90% of their American workforce are Indian nationals. 

Also worth mentioning is industry claims of shortages of IT professionals.  Wipro has made a decision to recruit college graduates with 2-year degrees and to provide on the job training.  It baffles me that American firms didn't decide to find a more innovative way to address their alledged shortages.

So while the American firms beg for cheap exploitable labor and are alleging shortages, the Indian firms already have a plan and it involves taking the initiative - not waiting on the government.

I never thought I would be complementing Wipro.  I guess I must now.  It appears that they are finally doing the right thing and hiring American workers.  Will Infosys and Tata follow suit?

Comments



Not holding my breath (Catzmaw - 8/15/2007 7:48:04 AM)
but this is good news.  One of the most annoying aspects of the alleged shortage of IT professionals is the sense that Americans are just too stupid and lazy to learn how to do IT, thus forcing companies to bring in foreigners to "take the jobs Americans won't do".  As if Americans don't want to feed their families and make a living! 

Now, how do we make even our own Democratic candidates understand this and stop buying into the notion that we need so many H-1B visas?