U.S. Blue-Chip Businesses Shift Hiring Abroad

Data from the U.S. Commerce Department reveal U.S. multinational companies increasingly are staffing their workforce from overseas. During the 2000s these businesses cut their U.S. Workforce by 2.9 million; hiring overseas increased by 2.4 million, as revealed this week in the Wall Street Journal.

The concern among some economists: the U.S.is not as competitive as overseas for staffing global companies. These large, premier companies--seen as "canaries in the coal mine" by economists due to their global footprints-- are an early warning that future quality employment here is at risk.

Clyde Prestowitz, a former trade negotiator and now a critic of US trade policy, listed what he felt is behind these trends:

"All the incentives in the global economy:

• an overvalued US dollar
• lower corporate taxes abroad
• very aggressive investment incentives abroad
• government pressure abroad versus not at home

... has been having, and will continue to have, a negative impact on US employment and wages."