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Brad Anderson
Aughenbaugh
English 12
March 13, 2015
The Economic Destruction of Outsourcing
Outsourcing in the United States has become a popular thing for companies to do.
Outsourcing is a way companies try to save money by sending work they need completed
outside the country to be finished. Every year more and more companies, from small
family businesses to large multimillion dollar corporations, are starting to rely on
outsourcing to make their companies larger and increase revenue. It hurts the economy, and
does more harm than good actually. It takes jobs away from the civilians of the United
States by sending them away to other counties. Other countries are growing from the jobs
and business we are giving them. It is slowly destroying our economy. Outsourcing is
slowly destroying the United States economy and should come to a halt.
To start out, outsourcing in the Unites States is sending jobs that belong to the hard
working American civilians to other countries. It is obvious that a large number of careers
have been sadly destroyed due to the circumstances of companies outsourcing. Nearly
sixty-five percent of the jobs lost in the US are because they were sent away to other
countries to be completed (Roberts). With such a high percentage of jobs lost it has raised
the countries unemployment rate by nearly three percent. Thats about 2.6 million jobs that
are lost that could be filled by American workers. According to a recent survey that was
taken companies, thirty-six percent said they turn to outsourcing to save money one way or
another. Out of that thirty-six percent that were surveyed twenty-six percent said they

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favored India and China to send their products to. The number one job that is lost to
outsourcing is call and help centers. Fifty-three percent are sent overseas to be given to
non-American workers to fulfill. A study conducted by the University of California system
determined that fourteen million white-collar jobs are threatened by the off-shoring trend,
including office personnel, information technology, accounting, architects, engineering and
design, data analysis, customer service and even legal services. What are the possible
solutions to get these lost jobs back? The explanation to this question is simple; quit
sending jobs overseas for Indians or Chinese people to do when the jobs can stay here in
America for American people.
Additionally when products are outsourced, they are usually outsourced because it
is a cheaper alternative than keeping the product in the Unites States to be made. On the
downside when something is cheaper it is made cheaper. The products that are made from
outsourced companies are made out of cheaper materials. It may sound okay, but the
cheaper materials make the product easier to break, and not last as long as an American
product would. Televisions are outsourced by many companies, and the companies that
outsource them have a higher percentage of recalls and faulty televisions than the
companies that dont go to outsourcing to save money. When you leave the United States
to have outsourcing done you have to realize some countries do not have the advanced
technology as we have here. For example, we would use highly advanced robots to
precisely put parts together. Outsourced countries would have an employee put it together
that could possibly forget a key component to the product potentially causing it to become
unsafe for the American consumer to use. Products such as kids toys are outsourced in
high quantities, and it goes along with the saying cant have quality when you want

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quantity"(Fraueheim). Toys are the most likely products to break because they get put
through vigorous activities when kids play with them. Why would you want your kids
playing with toys that could break and possibly hurt them? If the products were kept in
America to be made then there would not be the concerns of them breaking and being
faulty.
On the opposing view there are some positives. By sending product to other
countries we are gaining trust and relationship with them. We are helping the other
countries make money and helping boost their economies. By having other countries make
the product at a cheaper cost we are able to sell it cheaper saving the American civilian
money in their pocket. Yet the companies have the chances of being able to make more
money off of the products because they have a lower production cost. The materials to
make products for the United States are in higher quantities in other countries, making
them much cheaper in other countries than in the U.S. Workers in other countries dont
have a minimum wage, and they get paid less so it reduces the cost to have the products
made. Low wages provide a possible threat of making the workers not want to work to
their abilities and causing problems. Outsourcing may be cheaper, but it has longer
turnaround time to have the products completed.
Also the majority of the countries that these products are sent to for outsourcing do
not have the strict guidelines and regulations as we do here in the United States. This
creates concern on how these companies are making these products? Are they even making
them safe? Are they disposing waste properly? Using non toxic paints? Being sanitary?
According to a recent study done twenty-three percent of foreign outsourcing companies

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do not dispose their waste properly. This has become a major problem for countries
because they dump toxic chemicals near their water sources, and it has caused many birth
defects and fatalities. Some of the companies even use lead paint that is very toxic if
consumed. Foods that have come from other countries have been tested, and they have
twice the amount of bacteria on them as they would if they were prepared in the United
States (Roger).
What can we do to the jobs that are lost and the products that are made from
outsourcing to keep them in the United States? We could look for other companies within
the United States to send your product to be made. There are always alternatives then
going to outsourcing to save money. You could hire family members that can make the net
payout lower. Focus on the best solution and not the best way to save money. While we are
gaining short-term profit and a few jobs, we are forfeiting our manufacturing and industrial
base. Eventually, well be left with few to no American-owned factories, leaving the nation
completely dependent on other countries for work, resources and a fair standard of living.
We must make it profitable for U.S. companies to employ workers in this country and
produce goods. We should not have to worry about quality jobs leaving the U.S. and rely
on foreign companies to provide employment. We need to control foreign trade, as other
nations are doing.
Outsourcing is slowly destroying the United States economy and should come to a
halt. Other countries are growing from the jobs and business we are giving them, and we
are only hurting ourselves by doing this. We need to keep the jobs in America for the hard
working citizens. No good comes from outsourcing. All we get is slow turnaround time

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and bad products that could harm us. We need to focus on the best solution, and not the
best way to save money. Products made in the United States have a higher quality and are
made better and more efficient. Just because we can have it made cheaper, doesnt mean it
is a good thing. It is usually faulty and can cause more trouble than good. Without
outsourcing America's economy will thrive greatly, and the unemployment rate would
drastically decrease. We would all around benefit from not outsourcing. It should come to
an end before it destroys our economy.

Works Cited
Frauenheim, Ed. Bad Apple: Could the Era of Exploitation Outsourcing Be Near Its

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End? Workforce (6 Feb. 2012). Rpt. in Outsourcing. Eds. Jenny Cromie and Lynn M.
Zott. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
Manufacturing in China Remains a Threat to US Jobs. Is Chinas Economic Growth a
Threat to America? Ed. Ronald D. Lankford, Jr. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At
Issue. Rpt. from The End of Cheap China: What do soaring Chinese wages mean for
global manufacturing? Economist (10 May 2012). Opposing Viewpoints in Context.
Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
Pol, Roger. China Is Not the Biggest Threat to American Manufacturing. Is Chinas
Economic Growth a Threat to America? Ed. Ronald D. Lankford, Jr. Detroit:
Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Rpt. from Killing Manufacturing: Any wonder why
our manufacturing has moved outside of our boundaries? American Spectator (10 May
2011). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
Roberts, Paul Craig. Offshore Outsourcing Has Damaged the US Economy.
Outsourcing. Ed. Jenny Cromie and Lynn M. Zott. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013.
Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from A Greater Threat than Terrorism Outsourcing the
American Economy. Economy in Crisis. 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web.
13 Feb. 2015.

The Outsourcing of American Jobs Hurts the Economy on Every Level | Economy In
Crisis. Economy in Crisis RSS. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
<http://economyincrisis.org/content/the-outsorcing-of-american-jobs-hurts-theeconomy-on-every-level>.
The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing. Outsourcing Pros and Cons, Outsourcing Pros,
Cons of Outsourcing, Disadvantages of Outsourcing & Effects of Outsourcing. Web. 25
Feb. 2015. <http://www.flatworldsolutions.com/articles/pros-cons-outsourcing.php>.

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