One of my industry contacts on the outsourcer side once revealed over lunch that his American born ( probably 3rd Generation) parents were chiding him for being the outsourcing manager of a financial sector major. My friend’s Dad lamented that he was overseeing the "export of American jobs" and was generally unwilling to share the exact content of his son's job with friends and relatives. In fact, when I offered my MBA class on "Global Outsourcing of Knowledge based services" in Fall 2005; my University colleagues truncated the advertising for the class to just "Global Knowledge Based Services" and quietly dropped the "outsourcing" word. A colleague explained this to me and since there were enough students enrolled anyway – I let it go.
I find this approach quite inexplicable. Yes, if you or your loved one's job is outsourced, it is horrendous. The solution is not in being " anti-global outsourcing” but instead becoming pro-active to see how it can benefit your career and business in or from the US.
Therefore I sympathize with Economics Professor N. Gregory Mankiw who got into controversy as the then Chairman of the the White House Council of Economic Advisors. He basically said in February 2004 that outsourcing was the new way of doing international trade and that this was something he'd say in one of his introductory economics classes.
According to this article in the NY Times, while McKinsey sees only 2% US jobs getting shipped overseas Professor Alan S. Blinder thinks this number could be much higher.
While it looks like the public outcry against outsourcing has subsided somewhat since the last elections in 2004; there is continuing reluctance to see outsourcing as a fact and a possible opportunity. It is only after both individuals and businesses start understanding and accepting this that folks would start managing outsourcing to career advantage and business advantage.
I wonder if public outcry over outsourcing has diminished because the public has become more accepting of this, or if they have simply come to believe that no one is listening to their complaints anyway!