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Yesterday, I had an argument with a couple of co-workers on why companies like Motorola outsourced their manufacturing jobs from the US to abroad, as well as why companies also keep hiring foreigners over Americans.
My argument is because the companies want the cheaper labor and in this day and age, the American worker needs a good salary to make ends meet. Companies can either hire foreigners on an H1B1 work visa where they also get government assistance with housing and food so they don't have to work for as high a wage, and the companies who moved out of the country did it due to cheaper labor costs, cheaper taxes and regulations.
The 2 co-workers, one from Vietnam, the other from Guatemala, say that the companies are doing this because foreign workers work harder and more efficient than their American born counterparts, and that also the labor unions also hurt the American worker. The guy from Guatemala says that he was working for a machine shop in another company when it decided to close up shop and move it's plants to Spain, where the workers are more efficient. I looked into this and the reports I seen says it's because the cost of living, taxes and regulations are 200 percent less than the US, but the guy keeps saying it doesn't matter when the American worker is mostly lazy and doesn't care about what they do. He says it's why service jobs are taking a hit too since people don't care about the customer anymore and are more into socializing on their phones or office romance.
So, are companies choosing non-American workers due to the cheaper labor, or because the workmanship is far superior?
At first is was cost, but then the quality of American labor eroded because companies didn't have to train nearly as many Americans as in the past. Many companies weren't interested in producing quality employees. They were primarily focused on poaching other company's quality employees. This pattern started in manufacturing, so we can see the end result of corporate America's decisions there. The same thing has been happening in tech and other sectors, but the process started later, so it will take time to see the final outcome.
The attitudes found in the US workforce are not conducive to quality. Many people simply don't care. The attitude matches that of corporate America's general opinion of the USA. They don't care. They care about making money abroad... At least the large multinationals. There's all sorts of small businesses that do care, but don't have the funds or means to make much of a difference in this environment.
Yesterday, I had an argument with a couple of co-workers on why companies like Motorola outsourced their manufacturing jobs from the US to abroad, as well as why companies also keep hiring foreigners over Americans.
My argument is because the companies want the cheaper labor and in this day and age, the American worker needs a good salary to make ends meet. Companies can either hire foreigners on an H1B1 work visa where they also get government assistance with housing and food so they don't have to work for as high a wage, and the companies who moved out of the country did it due to cheaper labor costs, cheaper taxes and regulations.
The 2 co-workers, one from Vietnam, the other from Guatemala, say that the companies are doing this because foreign workers work harder and more efficient than their American born counterparts, and that also the labor unions also hurt the American worker. The guy from Guatemala says that he was working for a machine shop in another company when it decided to close up shop and move it's plants to Spain, where the workers are more efficient. I looked into this and the reports I seen says it's because the cost of living, taxes and regulations are 200 percent less than the US, but the guy keeps saying it doesn't matter when the American worker is mostly lazy and doesn't care about what they do. He says it's why service jobs are taking a hit too since people don't care about the customer anymore and are more into socializing on their phones or office romance.
So, are companies choosing non-American workers due to the cheaper labor, or because the workmanship is far superior?
The fact that you even ask the question, tells me all I need to know about you.
Do your OWN research.
PSST! it has been going on for as long as we have been a country.
Yesterday, I had an argument with a couple of co-workers on why companies like Motorola outsourced their manufacturing jobs from the US to abroad, as well as why companies also keep hiring foreigners over Americans.
My argument is because the companies want the cheaper labor and in this day and age, the American worker needs a good salary to make ends meet. Companies can either hire foreigners on an H1B1 work visa where they also get government assistance with housing and food so they don't have to work for as high a wage, and the companies who moved out of the country did it due to cheaper labor costs, cheaper taxes and regulations.
The 2 co-workers, one from Vietnam, the other from Guatemala, say that the companies are doing this because foreign workers work harder and more efficient than their American born counterparts, and that also the labor unions also hurt the American worker. The guy from Guatemala says that he was working for a machine shop in another company when it decided to close up shop and move it's plants to Spain, where the workers are more efficient. I looked into this and the reports I seen says it's because the cost of living, taxes and regulations are 200 percent less than the US, but the guy keeps saying it doesn't matter when the American worker is mostly lazy and doesn't care about what they do. He says it's why service jobs are taking a hit too since people don't care about the customer anymore and are more into socializing on their phones or office romance.
So, are companies choosing non-American workers due to the cheaper labor, or because the workmanship is far superior?
both.
bottom line - for the company - is the bottom dollar.
Jack Welsh, former CEO of General Electric set off the soon to be avalanche of American jobs offshore, back in the 80's. I was still elementary school at the time so don't know much about when it all started. Where were the Unions, and our politicians ? Why didn't they stand up for American jobs ?
My relative was high up in a major US company (im)famous for off-shoring.
It's first and foremost cost.
The work thing is far more complicated and varies by type of work.
They told me stories of dropping customer service scores and quality threatening contract performance levels....lots of problems with language barriers.
Not discounting the OP's co-workers viewpoints, it's going to vary.
It's mostly cost, that's been the main reason since outsourcing started in the 1950s. As one foreman told me in the late 1970s (he had just returned from setting up a factory in South America), "You get paid $5/hour, they get less than that for a ten hour day".
I am surprised at you.
"since outsourcing started in the 1950s."
"According to the Chinese Railroad Workers Project, Central Pacific started with a crew of 21 Chinese workers in January 1864. “In January 1865, convinced that Chinese workers were capable, the railroad hired 50 Chinese workers and then 50 more,” the Project notes. “But the demand for labor increased, and white workers were reluctant to do such backbreaking, hazardous work.”
Migrant workers from Mexico were used to pick crops.
When the picking was done, they returned back to Mexico.
"The Bracero program refers to agreements between the US and Mexican governments that allowed Mexican workers to fill seasonal jobs on US farms. Both the 1917-21 and the 1942-6"
When everyone proved that you no longer need to be in a physical office in America to do your job, everyone failed to prove to these corporations why they necessarily needed to be the one's who are hired. Our blue-collar factory workers once thought their jobs were secure, too...
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