Big companies laying off people or closing down in our region (hotel, unemployed)

[svband76]

Originally Posted by Mtl-Cns

You're right, it is BS. I mean a good portion of the reason why some of the departments at BNY Mellon are being consolidated or eliminated is because the work is being outsourced to Asia/India. So much for the tax breaks helping American workers.

Politicians pushing the "global economy" .. this is the result. "We Are The World" mentality leads to companies opting for cheap labor at the expense of American jobs.


Anyway, Monsanto/Bayer is facing billions of Roundup lawsuits so they may be looking to cut costs in anticipation.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by Mtl-Cns

I can tell you that the BNY Mellon layoffs have been in the works since at least July 2017 when the new CEO took over. There will be over 1000 jobs cut throughout the company affecting the New York and Boston offices too. Pittsburgh will be taking much less of a hit than the other HQs. This has everything to do with the company itself and nothing to do with the region. Source: I do not work there but have several friends who do, one of whom has been laid off so far.

I was laid off from BNY Mellon in 2013. I put in 16 hard years. The layoffs began in 2008.

[Blue Shift]

Outsourcing jobs to other, cheaper, countries seems like good practice for when the AI eats white collar* jobs. From what I've seen, a lot of insurance/banking stuff is first up.

Thanks CMU! jk

[8YearsinPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by Copanut

I thought Trump was going to bring steel back to Pittsburgh. I was hoping to get my old job back.

And coal!

[justjagginyinz]

Not all jobs are outsourced, they are automated. Big difference. There are jobs (careers) that pretty much guarantee you can find employment. 15 years ago, I could see the writing on the wall. I could no longer depend on the job I loved, but rather would need to delve into a field that would keep me employed at the rate of pay was accustomed to. Automation, AI and NLP is where the world is going. Healthcare, Technology or both if you love the burgh.

[Goinback2011]

I've heard that Highmark IT is almost all H1B Indian now.

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by Goinback2011

I've heard that Highmark IT is almost all H1B Indian now.

Do you think American IT professionals are out of work, or do you think there aren’t enough to keep up with demand?

[216facts]

Originally Posted by gladhands

Do you think American IT professionals are out of work, or do you think there aren’t enough to keep up with demand?

the short answer is not enough to keep up with demand

I have over 30 years in electrical engineering, many of those years as a manager. I've managed teams in the states and Bangalore for high technology companies. I'm pretty familiar with hardware and software engineering for product development.

In my opinion, software engineering/programming type jobs are pretty safe (in the US) for the next 10 years because the demand is so high and many companies don't have the will or the means to outsource to India. As companies become more and more successful at outsourcing to Bangalore, these jobs will get put under salary pressure. I've worked at one company where the unwritten rule was that for every engineer in the US that is lost (attrition or layoff) we can hire 2 in Bangalore - no questions asked. In general, Bangalore software engineers are just as good as US engineers and they make about 1/4 to 1/3 of what a US engineer makes. And there's a lot of them willing and ready to work, and they'll work 10 hours a day without asking. It does require managerial experience and knowing how to hire and manage the work load but as companies gain this expertise, the highly skilled workforce is over there.

We are seeing a significant threat to American R+D, particularly in software, arising in India and China.

We used to think that as long as we got a good STEM degree from a university that our jobs would be protected, we would not suffer the fate of the 1960s factory worker. This may not be true forever. I think if you asked a 1950s steelworker or autoworker if they thought nearly all of the jobs in our region would be lost to a foreign country - they would have laughed at you in 1950. Cried in 1980.

[Tractor Face]

Whatever the reason, it's really sad when people when people lose their jobs, it's traumatic.

[Goinback2011]

Originally Posted by gladhands

Do you think American IT professionals are out of work, or do you think there aren’t enough to keep up with demand?

H1B employees make less money than Americans and have no rights. They can't change jobs easily, so they are essentially indentured.