International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is taking offshoring to a new level.According to CNN/Money, Big Blue has a program called Project Match that will "help interested workers whose jobs are on the chopping block to "identify potential opportunities in (overseas) growth markets and facilitate consideration by hiring managers in those markets.'" It will even help with moving costs and provide assistance with visas.
Among the countries where laid off IBM workers could find jobs are Argentina, Brazil, China, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates, the Web site says.
That's right, we are exporting our unemployed. And there are plenty of IBM workers who apply for these jobs, which probably pay lower wages than the U.S. jobs and offer fewer protections for workers. More than 4,200 jobs have recently been chopped by the Armonk, NY-based company, according to the union-backed Alliance @ IBM.
IBM recently reported better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings. The company is more than willing to move jobs to lower-cost countries. There have been rumors that U.S. IBM employees have been asked to train workers in lower-wage countries such as India to do their jobs. IBM also "re-balances" its workforce by cutting jobs in some places and adding jobs in others.
There is no doubt that other companies will follow IBM's idea, particularly as the economy worsens. Unemployment has just jumped to 7.6% in January, and already is hitting double digits in places such as Michigan and California.
Not only will people be willing to leave the country to find a good job, they will line up around the block to do so.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-06-2009 @ 2:00PM
BHarrison said...
This appears to be an"opportunity" to work-for-less in a foreign country training foreigners in how to do your job. It may be temporary employment that results in long term unemployment. So, the company is paying you less to train your replacement in a foreign country . . . this is just a way of trying to improve the quality of outsourced jobs, right?
2-06-2009 @ 1:58PM
BHarrison said...
This appears to be an"opportunity" to work-for-less in a foreign country training foreigners in how to do your job. It may be temporary employment that results in long term unemployment. So, the company is paying you less to train your replacement in a foreign country . . . this is just a way of trying to improve the quality of outsourced jobs, right?