Irony alert: India Outsources Jobs to US

[babylonsister]

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/03/06/india-outsources-jobs-to-us/

India Outsources Jobs to US
By: Nicole Belle @ 1:50 PM - PST Submit or Digg this Post

The irony…thanks to NonnyMouse for the tip.

LA Times: (reg. req'd.)

India has taken thousands of American jobs through outsourcing. Now it's giving a few back.

The Indian government plans to outsource processing of visas (visitor documents, not the credit cards) from its embassy in Washington to a U.S.-based company.

A top embassy official wouldn't say whether the 40 staffers who do the jobs now would be laid off. Many of them are Indian nationals.

"We are not going to let too many go," said Gautam Bambawale, head of political affairs at the embassy.

UC Berkeley professor Harley Shaiken, who specializes in labor issues, said the move "is really a man bites dog kind of story. It's a small irony in an otherwise serious situation."

He said outsourcing of technology help desks, accounting work and even medical procedures played a significant role in the $11.7-billion U.S. trade deficit with India last year.

[Deja Q]

1. What irony? They're feeding their cash cow...

Which is also why WGA doesn't work right either. Their piracy rate so damn high, they don't want to kill it... (so why are Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and others rewarding pirates? Maybe more Americans should pirate; our piracy rate is less than 1/3rd of theirs...)

And did offshoring ALLEVIATE the trade deficit, or was it the CAUSE of it?

If the jobs are coming back, even in this bizarre pattern, fine - the trade imbalance will improve.

At least, until India has no further use of America...

[Rosemary2205]

2. We give them 2 million jobs and they give us 40?

I'll try to remember to be grateful

[RB TexLa]

3. Countries don't own jobs

If I create jobs, I can hire worthy employees anywhere in the world I choose to fill them.