15. A Shift Overseas
Sarosh Kuruvilla
Sarosh Kuruvilla, Industrial and Labor Relations, found that high-skilled jobs in finance, engineering, and medical research are joining low-skilled service occupations in shifting overseas. His latest research showed that many high-skilled U.S. jobs, such as financial industry equity research, data modeling, and actuarial analysis, are outsourced to India. Highly skilled U.S. occupations in several other industries are also outsourced, including aerospace and civil aviation engineering services, software research and development, and animation, and medical services, including radiology and drug discovery and testing. For India, this is a valuable opportunity for economic development, but the long-term growth of the Indian outsourcing industry is likely to be weakened by a shortage of skills in some fields. At present, most Indian research scientists and engineers come to the United States for training. According to Kuruvilla, the Indian higher education system needs a major reform if it is to produce more and better researchers, scientists, and engineers. The movement of high-skilled jobs has implications for the United States, as well. People with master’s degrees in life sciences, chemistry, and finance may not find good jobs in this country. Kuruvilla concluded that America must make investments in basic and advanced education so that those whose jobs have disappeared can be retrained, while graduates are prepared for value-added jobs that help the U.S. to innovate.