IBM joins the shift of jobs abroad Tuesday, July 22, 2003 It's not just the manufacturing jobs that are shipping out to foreign countries, information technology services, back room operations and call centers are increasingly finding workers in other nations. Now comes word that IBM is joing in the move to shift white collar workers abroad. Read more. (Free registration required.) Forrester Research, a Cambridge, Mass., consulting firm, projects that nearly one million IT-related jobs will move offshore over the course of the next 15 years. For example, General Electric, IBM, Motorola and Microsoft have all opened research centers in China recently. According to Stephanie Moore, vice president for outsourcing at Forrester Research: "You can get crackerjack Java programmers in India right out of college for $5,000 a year versus $60,000 here. The technology is such, why be in New York City when you can be 9,000 miles away with far less expense?" In a recent survey by the Information Information Technology Association of America, 12% of IT companies and 3% of non-IT companies say they have already opened up overseas operations. Large IT companies were most likely to say they’ve made this move – 22% have already moved work offshore. We shouldn't wring our hands. The message for us is getting clearer: EDPros need to focus on building brainpower, innovation and entrepreneurship in our communities. There's no time to waste. Today in our history of innovation... In 1933, Wiley Post completed the first round-the-world solo flight (15,596 miles) in his single-engine Lockheed aircraft "Winnie Mae," in 7 days. Post invented the first pressurized suit to wear when he flew around the world. He died with his passenger, Oklahoma humorist Will Rogers, August 15, 1935 in a plane crash in Alaska.  posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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