By Wes Urevig
There is a disturbing tone is this country that few people are yet aware of, but soon will be. It is the outsourcing of our jobs through the Internet.
These aren't blue collar jobs and these aren't factories that were closed because of foreign competition.
These are jobs that people do every day that turn on their computer. These are jobs that deal with white collar workers that until recently have not had to feel the brunt of the escape of American jobs.
A good reason that we have the land of the free is because we are also the land of opportunity, and the land of opportunity means jobs. These jobs are being sold to the lowest bidder over the Internet.
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When you make an airline reservation now, there is a good chance that a high percentage of those reservations are routed through the computers and telephone lines directly to India.
India is an up and coming country that because of its fluent English-speaking population and highly educated people, our jobs are being sold over the Internet to India at prices that are one-tenth of what the American worker is paid.
For example, an architectural engineering job that requires a tremendous amount of education in this country would pay anywhere between $40,000 and $70,000, depending on the ability. That same job can be outsourced over the Internet to an architectural engineer in India that gets $3,000 a year.
Historically, years past and present situation is that many blue collar jobs have been lost to foreign competition and there's been indifference from the white collar workers.
This creates an interesting situation because at some point when the American white collar workers are aware of what's happening to their jobs, inevitably they're going to ask for help from blue collar workers. The power of our nation lies in its workers. We need to make sure that the people we elect are aware of what is happening because of world trade, because of the computer age in which we live. We need to listen to what these representatives are saying about this. Do they support the corporate greed that is so rampant in this country or do they support the American worker?
With the thought of many of these white collar jobs being sold to the lowest bidder, it could make our educational system obsolete. The only way some of our sons and daughters after a four- or five- or six-year college education will be able to get a job is to get on a plane and fly to India and work for $3,000 a year.
Wes Urevig of Rochester is president of the Southeast Minnesota Building and Trades.
