Frequently Asked Questions
In theory, outsourcing jobs means the goods produced by those jobs become cheaper and the people who were doing those jobs can now move on to do more valuable work.
Outsourcing increases the competitiveness of American businesses by lowering per-unit costs of production. Company X is probably less likely to go bankrupt if they offshore jobs to Asian countries with lower labor costs, because their products will be cheaper to buy. If I work in marketing, accounting or engineering departments at Company X, I am better off if they offshore the manufacturing, because my job is ultimately safer--since the company is less likely to go out of business.
American companies tend to offshore jobs that add lower amounts of value to the product that is being produced. American companies tend to keep jobs at home that add lots of value. When an iPod is built in China, only a tiny portion of the wages go to Chinese factory workers. Most of it flows to American engineers that design the product and American workers that quality test them, do the marketing for Apple, etc. This is true for many products that are actually manufactured in Asia but have their roots in American research, design, engineering, marketing and distribution services.