With U.S. the biggest exporter of jobs, ASME considers effect on engineers

Global outsourcing of jobs and its effect on the US engineering community will be addressed during Congress as a follow-up to an ASME-sponsored forum on the topic on Capitol Hill.

"We are here today to learn about global outsourcing, and to discuss how the engineering community should respond to this important trend that is affecting our members," ASME President Reginald I. Vachon told a group of engineering society leaders who attended the forum in May.

Although the U.S. government isn't collecting data on offshore outsourcing and companies are reluctant to reveal plans, Ron Hira, an assistant professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Public Policy, said the phenomenon is expected to accelerate because of global economic competition.

In discussing the positive and negative impacts of offshore outsourcing, Hira said that quick re-employment of displaced workers is unlikely. He said that unemployment of electrical and electronic engineers and computer hardware engineers is at unprecedented high levels and, for the first time, is exceeding the average U.S. civilian unemployment rate, which may be putting downward pressure on U.S. engineering salaries.

Catherine Mann, a senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics, focused on the economic impact of global sourcing of information technology hardware. She noted that the impacts on productivity and IT professionals varied widely across industries. She also discussed policy implications of outsourcing and urged the establishment of a tax credit for human capital investment similar to the existing tax credit for investment in plant and equipment.

Eva Pell, vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School at Pennsylvania State University, said that nearly 60 percent of basic research at universities funded by the federal government is now in life sciences. She said that funding for engineering and the physical sciences has declined, and cited a recent study showing that published papers by Western European physicists now outnumber those by U.S. authors.

Pell also cited data on the decline in applications of foreign-born students for graduate study at U.S. universities and a decrease in the proportion that remain in the United States following graduation. She urged the creation of a more welcoming climate for international graduate students and the promotion of graduate education for domestic students, including those in underrepresented groups.

Perspectives on public policies to address global outsourcing were provided by Rep. Verne Ehlers, R-Mich., who chairs the House Science Subcommittee on Environment, Standards and Technology, and Rep. Donald Manzullo, R-Ill., who chairs the House Small Business Committee. After their remarks, a panel of congressional staff discussed various legislative initiatives on outsourcing.

Alternatives reviewed included bolstering investments in research and development, improving K-12 education and life-long learning, tax incentives for jobs created in the United States, "buy America" provisions in federal procurement, more aggressive enforcement of existing trade rules, and reform of visa policy.

Robert N. Pangborn, ASME vice president, Government Relations, facilitated a discussion about existing engineering society policies and activities relative to global outsourcing and how the societies could collaborate. Pangborn is chairing a new Government Relations task force to make recommendations for ASME policy and activities on global outsourcing. The task force is planning a session at Congress 2004.

Additional information about the forum, which was co-sponsored by the IEEE-USA, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Institute of Chemical Engineers and National Society of Professional Engineers, can be found at www.asme.org/gric.

back to meetings & courses