http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/7226041.htm
Posted on Mon, Nov. 10, 2003
More jobs -- bound for India
THERE ARE NO QUICK FIXES, BUT U.S. NEEDS NATIONAL POLICY TO MAINTAIN
EDGE IN INNOVATION
Mercury News Editorial
The dramatic rise of the tech economy in India is sending shockwaves
through Silicon Valley. Here, tens of thousands of workers are
suffering the sting of unemployment. There, the tech sector is
booming.
As Aaron Davis re****ted in a series of stories over the past two days,
Valley stalwarts such as Oracle, Hewlett Packard, IBM and many others
are rapidly expanding their presence there. It's easy to see India's
gain as our pain, and the backlash has already started.
There's a lively debate as to whether the flow of tech jobs to India,
China and elsewhere will be good for the U.S. over the long term.
America may emerge stronger, as local companies become more
competitive and skilled U.S. workers take on higher-end, higher-paid
positions. Or America could lose its technology leader****p, its
economic edge, and eventually its standard of living.
What's not debatable is that the emergence of India and China as tech
powerhouses will have profound and lasting changes on the types of
jobs being performed in the U.S. Those changes will happen quickly,
and no place will feel their impact more than Silicon Valley.
As Intel Chairman Andy Grove recently pointed out, the U.S. is sorely
lacking a national policy to address these profound changes.
That's not to say that job migration has gone unnoticed. Indeed, with
the economic recovery only now beginning to create new jobs, the flow
of jobs overseas has quickly emerged as a hot-button political issue.
Its profile is only going to increase as the presidential election
nears.
What's alarming is that politicians of both parties have reacted with
a mix of populist protectionism and accusations tinged with
xenophobia. China has borne the brunt of the ba****ng, with charges --
some valid, some not -- ranging from currency manipulation to unfair
trade practices. India, whose impact on some Valley mainstay sectors
such as software is arguably far greater, has escaped criticism -- for
now.
Nation ba****ng is hardly constructive. Legitimate trade issues need to
be discussed. But artificial barriers to keep U.S. jobs from being
ex****ted are not likely to stand in the way of global economic forces.
Worse, they could be counterproductive, by hurting the prospects of
struggling U.S. companies.
Figuring out how to create the conditions for jobs to remain here and
for new types of jobs and industries to flourish is far harder than
blaming others. But those are precisely the questions policymakers
must address. How can we provide effective sup****t for workers
displaced by offshoring trends? How can we retrain them for high-value
jobs so they don't end up in lower-paid industries? How can we foster
a new wave of growth that can absorb them?
There are no quick fixes. But maintaining the ecosystem that gives
America an edge in innovation and entrepreneur****p will require, among
other things, concerted investment in infrastructure and education,
spending on research and development and the creation of an
environment where businesses can thrive -- despite higher costs.
The free market doesn't seem capable of achieving those goals without
the help of a coherent set of national and state policies.
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