Tag Archives: Training IT Workers

I’m reading an article in informationweek that is stating that the United States Agency for International Development will partner with private outsourcers in Sri Lanka.  Java, Java EE, general BPO and Call Center skills will be taught to the workers there.   English improvement classes will also be part of the program. 
 
President Obama made a promise to retain more hi-tech jobs in America, but now there is a $36,000,000 program to train thousands of workers overseas. 
 
Many feel that the cost of employing workers in the United States is staggering.  Wages are high, and then accounting fees for payroll are not cheap either.  Social security tax and unemployment tax do further damage. Medical plans are yet another nightmare to deal with. Our U.S. government is stifling our own economy with all of these taxes and policies. There must be an easier way.  If we learned to think like the Chinese do, we would set up our own special economic zones that have different taxation rules. Workers could pay their own social security, and not have unemployment insurance.  If you are serious about work, you can live without the frills.  We could set up one zone in Oklahoma where land and labor are cheap, and businesses would flock there to outsource within our borders instead of to Sri Lanka.  Workers would also flock to this new economic miracle in Oklahoma to live in compounds and work long hours.  People could work for a few years and then go back to their home towns, or areas of choice.  I don’t forsee America gaining consciousness and doing anything like this for at least a few decades, and only if we get into devestating economic shape.
 
On a brighter note, the recipients of the training program in Sri Lanka are mostly underemployed, or unemployed individuals. They will benefit greatly, and their families will enjoy a much better level of prosperity (getting out of poverty).