Emotions & Politics To Blame For BPO Backlash: US Chamber Chief

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New Delhi, April 20: Business process outsourcing (BPO) is good for the American economy and jobs, US chamber of commerce president Thomas J Donohue has said, adding the backlash against BPO was not based on facts but on emotions and politics.

Addressing a meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in New Delhi on Tuesday, Mr Donohue said that after an extensive investigation, the US chamber discovered that no one really knew for sure how many service jobs had been moved to India and other countries. Over 80 bills have been introduced in 30 states and Congress to punish companies which outsource, but almost all of them have been stopped thanks to a strong coalition led by the US chamber, Mr Donohue said.

“We know that no matter how many jobs are moving due to outsourcing, many more are being created due to insourcing along with the US’s openness to the world economy,” the chamber president said.

Giving an example, he pointed out that the outsourcing of computer hardware manufacturing during the last decade lowered the price of IT.

As a result, its infusion throughout the US economy spread rapidly and made people more productive while creating millions of new jobs in computer services. “And the same thing is happening now with sourcing of some IT service jobs,” he said.

He added that his chamber was leading the fight to preserve for its companies the freedom and flexibility to source and trade around the world.