Despite the depressed economy, many U.S. companies that move jobs overseas are doing so because of a lack of skilled workers here, and not because of the savings, according to a new survey.
Companies surveyed late last year reported that a number of factors influence their decisions to move jobs offshore, including the location of the best service provider and the quality of the infrastructure in place. Even though cost savings are significant, the survey found that the average savings of moving jobs offshore is declining.
The software sector has the highest ratio of offshore versus domestic employees, which could be a "reflection of a scarcity of domestic science and engineering graduates in the U.S.," said Arie Lewin, Fuqua Professor of Strategy and International Business at Duke University.
