More Work Is Outsourced to U.S. Than Away From It, Data Show
Despite the political outcry over the outsourcing of white-collar jobs to such places as India and Ghana, the latest U.S. government data suggest that foreigners outsource far more office work to the U.S. than American companies send abroad.
The value of U.S. exports of legal work, computer programming, telecommunications, banking, engineering, management consulting and other private services jumped to $131.01 billion in 2003, up $8.42 billion from the previous year, the Commerce Department reported Friday.
Imports of such private services -- a category that encompasses U.S. outsourcing of call centers and data entry to developing nations, among other things -- hit $77.38 billion for the year, up $7.94 billion from 2002. Measuring imports against exports, the U.S. posted a $53.64 billion surplus last year in trade in private services with the rest of the world.
Under government accounting, when a U.S. company opens a technical-support center in India that handles inquiries from the U.S., that is considered a U.S. import of services. When a U.S. lawyer in New York does work for a German auto company or a New York investment banker works on a deal for a Japanese company, that is an export of services.
The numbers suggest that congressional efforts to restrict outsourcing by U.S. companies may backfire, if they provoke retaliation by U.S. trading partners. Economists also say that U.S. service exporters -- insurers, for instance -- might lose some competitive edge if they can't use foreign suppliers for call centers or other back-office operations.
"If you try to protect and limit outsourcing, you will have a negative impact on the exports of service activities, which generate a lot of jobs," said Catherine Mann of the Institute for International Economics, a Washington policy research group.
Despite the developments in services trade, the current-account deficit, the most inclusive measure of the U.S. trade gap, hit another record in 2003, reaching $541.8 billion, or 4.9% of the gross domestic product, up from $480.9 billion in 2002, or 4.6% of GDP. The increase came even though the deficit for the final three months of year narrowed to $127.5 billion, from $135.3 billion in the third quarter.
The white-collar trade issue has risen to the top of the political agenda and has led to legislative proposals to prevent outsourcing, or expose it when it occurs. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, wants U.S. companies to reveal to callers that their telephone inquiries are going overseas. Others in Congress legislation to restrict government contractors from sending work abroad.
Politicians have largely ignored the jobs created in the U.S. when Americans sell white-collar services to foreign customers.
"I can understand why members of Congress are responding to what a lot of constituents feel, and I can understand why their constituents feel that way because there has been so much publicity about the potential loss of jobs," said J. Robert Vastine, president of the Coalition of Service Industries. But, he said, "a lot of it is hype, and one of the big problems in this debate is there hasn't been enough analysis."
In addition to hiring more U.S. businesses to provide services, foreigners doubled last year the amount of money invested in U.S. companies, plants, offices, stores and other facilities. That foreign direct investment swelled to $81.98 billion in 2003, from $39.63 billion in 2002, the government said.
全球工作岗位外包对美国有利
尽管美国政府在政治上极力反对将白领工作岗位外包至印度和加纳等国家，但是最近美国政府公布的数据显示，其他国家向美国转移的白领工作岗位比美国转移至国外的工作岗位更多。
美国商务部(Commerce Department)周五公布的数据显示，2003年美国向外输出的法律工作、计算机编程、电信、银行、工程、管理资讯和其他私营服务领域的工作岗位的总价值为1,310.1亿美元，较2002年高84.2亿美元。而2003年国外向美国输入的私营服务工作岗位的总价值达到773.8亿美元，较2002年的79.4亿美元。国外向美国输入的私营服务工作岗位的范畴包括美国向发展中国家输出的呼叫中心和数据处理工作岗位以及其他工作岗位。将进出口相加，去年美国私营服务领域与其他国家的贸易实现了536.4亿美元的顺差。
根据美国政府的计算方法，如果一家美国公司在印度建立技术支持中心处理来自美国的询问，这将被计入美国的服务进口。如果一位驻纽约的美国律师为一家德国汽车公司工作或者一位驻纽约的投资银行家为一家日本公司的交易服务，这将被计入美国的服务出口。
上述数字显示，美国国会极力限制美国公司外包的做法很可能产生相反结果，因为这可能导致贸易伙伴的报复行为。经济学家也认为，如果美国的服务出口行业，比如保险业，无法在其他国家建立呼叫中心或者其他内勤业务，他们可能会丧失一定的竞争力。位于华盛顿的政策研究集团Institute for International Economics的Catherine Mann称，如果美国政府试图保护并限制工作岗位外包，那么这将对创造大量工作岗位的服务业的出口产生负面影响。
尽管服务业贸易进一步发展，美国2003年的经常项目赤字仍然达到了创纪录的5,418亿美元，占国内生产总值(GDP)的4.9%，2002年的经常项目赤字为4,809亿美元，占国内生产总值的4.6%。经常项目赤字衡量美国的贸易逆差情况。尽管2003年最后三个月的经常项目赤字从第三季度的1,353亿美元收窄至1,275亿美元，2003年全年的经常项目赤字仍然增加。
