IBM Outsources Jobs Overseas

FEMALE ANCHOR
Welcome back. On Tech Watch today, IBM reportedly is outsourcing1 thousands of high-paying programming jobs overseas in a bid to cut costs. Wall Street Journal is reporting that IBM plans to gradually move the jobs to India, China, and elsewhere.

MALE ANCHOR
That's right. Well, Bill Tucker has more on Big Blue's response to this report and the pressure that many companies are now facing to outsource jobs overseas.

CORRESPONDENT
The world's largest computer services provider, leading provider of computer hardware, number two provider of software, appears to be ducking2 for cover. IBM not commenting on reports that it's about to outsource nearly 5,000 jobs to India, simply issuing this statement. But the statement admits future job growth is outside the United States. For critics of outsourcing, the reasons behind the trend are obvious and not so well thought out.

MARCUS COURTNEY, WASHTECH
Companies are doing this because they only see employees as costs to be cut, and they want to boost3 short-term profits over long-term economic gain. This is about a short-run strategy and not about a long-run strategy.

CORRESPONDENT
A recent study by The Gartner Group found that by the end of this year, ten percent of U.S.-based information technology jobs will move to emerging markets. Among the other likely implications found by Gartner, seasoned4 professionals are abandoned, future talent sees little reason to pursue5 the career, critical knowledge is lost, and the relationship between employer and employees is damaged. But outsourcing is a trend not likely to be reversed. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports outsourcing, saying companies which don't respond to competitive price pressures will fail. Employees displaced6 by outsourcing see it from a different perspective.

NATASHA HUMPHRIES, SOFTWARE ENGINGEER
It's been described as an epidemic7 and I think that's an accurate representation at this point. Many corporations across different service industries are going offshore to tap into the cheaper labor markets. The U.S. does not have a monopoly8 on engineering talent and I think this trend will continue.

CORRESPONDENT
The logical extension of such thinking? If people lose their jobs, the consumer base for the products being outsourced is eroded.

In straightforward and unflattering9 terms, it's known as "the race to the bottom", which is something different from climbing the ladder to success. Bill Tucker, CNN, New York.

IBM海外寻才

女主播
欢迎回到节目中来，这里是今天的《科技观察》节目，据报道，为了降低成本，IBM公司正在将数千个的高薪编程工作转移到国外。《华尔街日报》报道说，IBM公司计划逐步将这些工作转移到印度、中国和其他地方。

男主播
的确是这样。接下来比尔•塔克将详细报道深蓝公司对这则消息所作的回应以及很多公司因将工作转移到海外而面临的压力。

记者
这个世界最大的电脑服务供应商、主要的电脑硬件供应商、世界第二的软件供应商似乎不希望引起媒体的注意（悄悄把工作转移到国外去）。IBM公司没有对其计划将5千个工作机会转移到印度的报道进行任何评论，只是发表了这个声明。但声明承认未来工作机会的增加将在美国之外。对那些对工作外流持批评态度的人来说，这一趋势背后的原因是显而易见的，而且并未被认真地思考。

马库斯•科特尼，沃什科技公司
企业所以这么做是因为他们将员工看成是可以被削减的成本，将短期利润置于长远利益之上，是一个短期而不是长期的策略。

记者
加特勒集团最近的一项调查发现，到今年年底，将有近百分之十的以美国为基地的信息技术工作将会被转移到一些新兴的市场中去。加特勒集团还发现，这一趋势可能会导致其他一些后果，比如具有丰富经验的专业人员被辞退，未来的精英分子不愿涉足这项产业，关键技术的流失还有雇员和雇主之间的关系恶化。但是，工作外流是一个无法扭转的趋势。美国商务部公开支持工作外流的现象，表示如果不对价格竞争的压力作出回应，企业将无法生存。但因为工作外流而被别人取代的雇员们对此却有不同的看法。

娜塔莎•汉弗瑞斯，软件工程师
这种趋势被描述成一种流行病，我认为就目前来说，这是一种准确的描述。很多不同服务领域的企业都在向海外转移，接近较为便宜的劳动力市场。美国没有独占工程技术人才，所以这种趋势将继续下去。

记者
如果沿着这种思路继续下去呢？如果人们丢掉了工作，这种被分流到国外生产的产品的消费群体也会慢慢消失。

坦白地说，这种趋势就好像“在比赛中看谁先跑到终点”，与向上攀爬、追求成功是两回事。CNN，比尔•塔克从纽约报道。