Can Obama keep IT Jobs in the US?

Corporate America's drive to cut costs by moving jobs offshore has hit Robert Poulk hard. A veteran of the defense, aerospace, and computer industries, Poulk never had trouble finding work—until 2003. That year, his job as a senior troubleshooter for a major software manufacturer was moved offshore to Bangalore, India. During a yearlong period of unemployment, Poulk sent out five to seven résumés a week and got only four responses. Eventually, he was hired by a temp agency and assigned a job at his old company, which he asked not be identified, where he now works as a contractor for about 30% less money and no benefits. Having tapped his savings to make mortgage payments during his period of unemployment, Poulk is now concerned he won't have enough money for retirement. "I'm still waiting for the new prosperity that globalization was supposed to bring," he says. Poulk's hopes, and those of other U.S. workers whose jobs have been shipped overseas, now rest with President Barack Obama, who has pledged to keep more jobs in the U.S. On Jan. 16, just days before his inauguration, Obama told workers in Ohio, "We're not looking to create just any kind of jobs here; we're looking to create good jobs that pay well and can't be shipped overseas." Tax Credits Aren't Enough Keeping jobs within U.S. borders proved a tall order for Obama's predecessor and may be comparably vexing for the current Administration. Poulk's job was part of an early wave of IT jobs headed offshore, but the trend has only accelerated since 2003. U.S. corporations will move at least 140,000 jobs offshore in 2009 and 2010, and more than 50% of those jobs will be in IT, according to a December 2008 report by the Hackett Group (HCKT), a global strategic advisory firm that specializes in outsourcing. By 2010, about 25% of all IT jobs at the world's largest companies by market value will have been moved offshore, according to Hackett. Obama initially proposed a $3,000 tax credit this year and next for every net new job created. Still, outsourcing executives say that's not enough of a financial incentive to keep jobs in the U.S. "An average salary for a software developer in the U.S. is $75,000 and it's $8,000 in India," says Mary Jo Morris, president of World Sourcing Services for Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC). Ultimately that tax credit proposal was shelved and other tax cuts aimed at creating jobs were included in the $819 billion economic stimulus package, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, that passed the House on Jan. 28.