Offshore Jobs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Offshore Jobs - Essay Example are some of the countries where MNCs from USA, UK, Germany and other developed nations have started outsourcing the jobs. This trend has picked up in a big way in the last 15 to 20 years. In fact, as this trend kept growing, a debate also started in the political spheres about the job losses taking place in USA, Germany, UK etc. In the recently concluded Presidential elections in the USA, outsourcing became a big issue, with the candidates spelling out their own versions of the truth on outsourcing by many companies. But as per the indications available the trend appears unstoppable in the immediate future. The high turnover rates amongst IT staff in some of the Indian cities points towards the availability of opportunities in this sector which propels the staff to switchover jobs from one company to another looking. The research conducted by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) points out that even after a huge hike in salaries in the outsourcing destinations, the salaries are still quite low as compared to the cities in the America and leading EU nations. While the criteria of selecting the sites depends on a variety of factors like, work culture, infrastructure availability, talent pool etc. besides the wages; the study points out that many companies have preferred to go for tried and tested nations like India and China. Though the infrastructure is far from satisfactory in some of the cities of India, still some of the companies have expressed their confidence in these cities based on their past experience and the availability of other similar companies in the vicinity. At the same time, the study points out that many companies like Amazon.com, Telefonica, Intel and Sakonnet Technology have preferred offshore centers in the African cities like Cape Town, Tangier, Cordoba, Rio de Jenerio etc. But in general it has been found out that some of the hot spots have become favorites of companies which have followed the trend observing the 'first mover's cost advantage'. But this trend also results in overheating of the job market in those cities and the infrastructure too starts deteriorating. Citing the example of Gurgaon, a place near the capital city of India the study finds out that the area has become very populous with many shopping malls, multi-story apartments etc. when leading companies set up their operational units in these cities. But gradually it has started taking its toll with paralyzing traffic congestions, frequent power cuts, communication network breakdowns etc. But, the fact that so far the reverse trend has not started, points towards the cost advantage still being favourable to the MNCs. The availability of huge numbers of unemployed educated youth at offshore hot spots makes these locations all the more attractive. MGI studied 28 low-wage countries and figur ed out that about 6.4 million young professionals are available in 2003 for far less number of jobs. It has been projected through the study that supply of college educated talent will continue to outstrip the demand from MNCs offshore operations for many-many years to come. In general some of the key factors identified for choosing a location include Cost, availability of skills, suitable political and legal environment; market potential of the region or country; risk factors; and infrastructure. Though destinations like Dubai have also been