Thomas Friedman, the author of "The World is Flat," brings up ten events and concepts that have shaped America over the last few decades. He tells readers of how each of these situations have transformed the way people think as well as altered the industries and country's histories in a profound way. Based on this list, I believe outsourcing has created the widest ripple effect through American culture in particular.
The main effect of outsourcing on American culture has been the shift of the industry that has occured in the last two decades. This shift, however, has had incredible ramifications aside from the obvious change in available occupations. Part of this ripple has been a rise in the overall unemployment rate. Since many of the unskilled professions have been taken by workers in other countries, it has caused workers within America to be unable to find unskilled labor. This rise in the unemployment rate begins to cause even more problems within the economy. One consequence, higher inflation, is not easily fixed and can take decades to repair. A second consequence is a lower volume of new jobs for emerging new workers. This higher percentage of young adults not contributing to the economy can lead to an increase in crime rate, drug use and alcoholism within the usually employed demographic.
Less stringet quality control in foreign factories leads to a higher number of recalls of said products. This is not only dangerous for American citizens, but it also is the reason for safety issues within the factory itself. When internal quality control is lacking, it is likely management is providing limited support for workers and not providing good working conditions. Furthermore, this is unsafe due ot the amount of products that go unnoticed when the really should be recalled by the company. Foreign communication with their American parent company is more likely to be lacking within these outsourced branches, which multiplies these problems, hence why the ripple runs very wide.
1 comment:
I agree that outsourcing is an important flattener. Outsourcing can be related to many of the things you have already discussed however it also has had other affects. The jobs that have been outsourced are typically manufacturing jobs because in countries like China or other Southeast Asian nations the cost to make goods once made in America is substantially less. With the cost to produce that much less it was a given that American companies would outsource to make the most profit they could. This is another negative to outsourcing. There is a positive though in the fact that through outsourcing America has been able to develop into a service nation. What i mean by a service nation is that most companies no longer focus on manufacturing but rather services that they can render on their products whether they be physical goods or service goods. This development is good for the country because it promotes education and in this society education is a necessity. When manufacturing was boss in America people didn't need a bachelor’s degree or masters in some topic they could go into manufacturing and have a successful living. By transitioning to a service country it pushes for more educated workers but there are still the unskilled positions with some manufacturing and other jobs that don't require a major education.
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