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仕事のアウトソーシング
アメリカでは業務を海外に外注する会社が激増しています。いまや、製造関係のみならず、事務系の仕事も外注が進み、人々の関心を呼んでいます。雅子さんの会社でも、同じビル内の別の部署に送金するために、まずインドにある財務部門に必要書類を送らなければなりません。外注化は、安価な労働力でコスト削減ができる反面、雇用の流出といったマイナス面も伴う、複雑な問題です。
Outsourcing
If I had a problem with any computer hardware, software or Internet services and I called a toll-free technical support hotline to ask questions, chances are high that the person picking up the phone will have an Indian accent. Indeed, even at my workplace, when we dial the local number for IT-related problems we are automatically routed to a call center in Bangalore, India.
This outsourcing of jobs is a red-hot topic at the moment. Manufacturing jobs have long been moving to countries where labor is cheaper, but white-collar jobs are now moving overseas as well. I've gotten used to the idea of India being the center for customer support, IT and computer programming tasks at my company, but recently I've been surprised that some financial, legal and even library transactions have also been moving abroad. The other day, I wanted my lab to transfer a few hundred dollars to another lab in the same building. The paperwork had to be faxed to the finance department in India.
Outsourcing is a complicated economic issue and it's difficult to argue whether it's beneficial or detrimental. Although Americans are sensitive to this topic, especially during national elections, politicians tend not to offer clear-cut statements on their stances. The fact is that Democrats and Republicans alike have mixed feelings about outsourcing.
The official stance of the Bush administration is that outsourcing is good for the U.S. economy. I've heard people express surprise at this, since Republicans are considered to take a lot of pride in products that are "Made in the U.S.A." In fact, the Republican view on trade is that corporations are in the business of making money, and the free-market should dictate economic activity, not the government. If companies benefit from hiring cheap labor abroad and consumers enjoy purchasing the end product ... well, what's wrong with that?
The problem is that this comes at the cost of American jobs. Whether one is a Democrat or Republican, losing one's job is difficult to accept, and politicians don't like to see disgruntled voters. As human beings, it's difficult to accept the idea that one's workplace contributions are easily replaceable, and the current fear is that one will be replaced by a better, cheaper and faster worker abroad. Unemployment is especially difficult to accept if one has spent years of training, either in school or on the job, and has specialized skills that don't transfer well to other occupations. Softy liberals have traditionally supported job-protection mechanisms such as unions or concepts such as paying a bit more to support local businesses, but these ideals do not get much support in a tough marketplace where consumers choose the cheapest product.
Americans want to have their cake and eat it too: They want well-paid jobs for themselves while enjoying low prices for goods at the store. It is difficult to achieve these two goals simultaneously while keeping all jobs within the United States. One can argue that moving only the low-paying jobs abroad can free Americans to pursue more interesting, higher-paying jobs ... but even having a Ph.D. does not make one immune to outsourcing. My company outsources the same kind of R&D work that my colleagues and I perform in upstate New York, and many other companies have built research branches in India and China as well. The fact of the matter is that there are too few researchers in the United States, and India and China are overflowing with eager students who only cost the company a fraction of what the U.S. employees cost.
So how can the United States keep its edge? I recently read an article that said that "creativity" must now come to the fore. Americans must generate crazy ideas of the kind that are not cultivated abroad. Americans are nothing if not entrepreneurial and optimistic. I've met many people in this country who truly believe that they have it within them to change the world by inventing the next greatest widget. Such confidence can be irritating, but having lived here for so long, I have to admit that some of it has rubbed off on me too.
Shukan ST: Sept. 2, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
- Outsourcing
- 外注すること
- toll-free
- フリーダイヤルの
- hotline
- 顧客サービスの直通電話
- chances are high that 〜
- 〜の可能性が高い
- workplace
- 職場
- are automatically routed to 〜
- 自動的に〜につながれる
- call center
- 顧客相談窓口
- red-hot
- 一番話題の
- Manufacturing jobs
- 製造業
- labor
- 労働力
- financial
- 財務の
- legal
- 法務の
- library
- 文書の
- transactions
- 処理
- lab(=laboratory)
- 研究室
- transfer 〜 to 〜
- 〜を〜に移す
- complicated
- 複雑な
- beneficial or detrimental
- 有益か有害か
- are sensitive to 〜
- 〜に敏感だ
- national elections
- 国政選挙
- tend not to 〜
- 〜しそうにない
- clear-cut
- はっきりした
- Democrats and Republicans alike
- 民主党も共和党もともに
- mixed feelings
- 賛否入り混じった感情
- administration
- 政権
- are considered to 〜
- 〜すると見なされている
- are in the business of 〜
- 〜を業務とする
- dictate 〜
- 〜を決定する
- purchasing 〜
- 〜を購入すること
- end product
- 最終商品
- what's wrong with that
- 何が悪いのか
- comes at the cost of 〜
- 〜が犠牲になる
- disgruntled voters
- 不満を抱く有権者
- contributions
- 貢献
- replaceable
- 交換可能な
- Unemployment
- 失業
- transfer(to〜)
- 〜に応用できる
- occupations
- 仕事
- Softy liberals
- 人のいいリベラル派
- job-protection mechanisms
- 仕事を守る仕組み
- unions
- 組合
- tough marketplace
- 厳しい市場
- have their cake and eat it too
- 両方でいい思いをする(ここでは、割のいい職につく一方、商品は安く購入することを指す)
- well-paid
- 給料のいい
- achieve 〜
- 〜を達成する
- simultaneously
- 同時に
- free 〜 to 〜
- 〜が〜できるようにする
- pursue 〜
- 〜を追い求める
- Ph.D.
- 博士号
- make 〜 immune to 〜
- 〜を〜の影響を受けずにすむようにする
- R&D work
- 研究開発(research and development)の仕事
- colleagues
- 同僚
- upstate 〜
- 〜北部
- branches
- 部門
- The fact of the matter is that 〜
- 実際は〜だ
- are overflowing with 〜
- 〜でいっぱいだ
- eager
- 熱心な
- a fraction of 〜
- 〜のほんの一部
- keep its edge
- 競争力を保つ
- come to the fore
- 大きな役割を演じる
- generate 〜
- 〜を生み出す
- are not cultivated
- はぐくまれない
- 〜 are nothing if not 〜
- 〜なのが〜のとりえだ
- entrepreneurial
- 起業家精神に富む
- optimistic
- 楽天的な
- widget
- 製品
- be irritating
- いらいらさせられる
- has rubbed off on 〜
- 〜にうつってしまった