Want a job? Call India

It is a slow day for scandal, so much betwixt and between with Australia’s slow paced Cole Inquiry adding little of any great moment. That the smarmy Foreign Minister, facing the inquiry in person, managed to convey total failure to comprehend the import of intelligence dispatches warning of corruption. Business as usual downunder…

What caught my eye, while I was out there dredging for juicy snippets wasn’t so much corrupt activities as the corruption which is undermining our economies:

"A call center with 40 or more experienced agents can be of tremendous value for a buyer," said Kiran Upadhya, a Bangalore-based consultant with Uni Solutions. "At an older call center, workers will be happy to now be working for a Western firm, especially if given a 20 percent pay increase," he said, adding, "just give them Friday and Saturday nights off.

“Indian call centers are being purchased by U.S. and Canadian companies seeking to quickly gain access to call center services offshore, particularly outbound services. Although media attention focuses more on the sale of U.S. assets to Asian and Middle Eastern firms, this trend in the other direction highlights how globalization is linking economies, consumers and businesses around the world.

“The size of centers being sold ranges between 50 and 100 seats, with 75 to 80 seats being the most common. Call centers in the range of 20 to 30 seats are not being sold to Westerners because these facilities are usually not worth the effort to acquire.”

With the US debate on immigration raging, based largely on the availability of low wage workers, the trend to taking ‘service’ industries offshore should be a very real concern. This is especially relevant to the US economy which is in debt to the tune of around $30,000 for every man, woman and child.

Some might recall a time when there was a strong manufacturing sector, that is ‘home made’ goods; when there were viable resource industries right here at home; when mom and pop farms supplied much of the fresh food we consume daily.

Then some smart dick economists who preached that these labor intensive industries were too expensive, they must be moved offshore where wages are lower. First garments and footwear went, followed by all manner of goods. No wonder most western economies are in dire debt to Asian economies.

These bright spark economists claimed that our economies must be based on service industries; that is, we don’t actually make or produce things anymore we simply sell our dubious solutions resolutions skills.

Then the mantra ramped up to ‘get big or get out!’ Having gutted the jobs base the economists then moved to the blanding of our cultures to a one size fits all, with a tinge of circus if not bread.

Well now, because people seem to need a living wage in our western economies, those service industries are being shunted off to low wage countries. Already the next industry sector is emerging; it is based on debt consolidation. Now there is the joke, the scandal if you will; we are facing increasing national and personal debt throughout the western economies.

Can these wizard economists who led us to this promiseland now explain how debt can effectively be reduced when the income base is being rapidly reduced? I guess they will just tell us to go buy an Indian call centre. The 20 seaters are going cheap!