• 81,500 = Total job losses 41 months after start of recession, 3/2001–8/20041
  • 145,700 = Job losses in manufacturing 41 months after start of recession 3/2001-8/20042
  • -81,100 = Actual job growth vs. growth projected by Bush administration, 6/2003–8/20043
    • 158,200 = Jobs projected
    • 77,100 = Actual job growth
  • -273,000 = Jobs shortfall - Job growth compared to working-age population growth, 3/2001–8/20044
    • -2.1% = Job growth
    • 5.5% = Working-age population growth
  • 5.0% = Unemployment rate in August 2004 (4.4% = Unemployment rate in January 2001)5
  • 379,300 = Jobs at risk of outsourcing in North Carolina6
  • 32,585 = Jobs lost to NAFTA 1993-2002 (Jobs gained minus jobs destroyed)7
  • $37,279 = Median inflation-adjusted household income in 2003, down $73 from 2002, $2,378 from 2001, and $3,651 from 20008

Recent outsourcing events in North Carolina

  • Raleigh: IBM, unknown number of workers, 2004-05
  • Charlotte: Bank of America, 400 workers, 2004
  • Cabarrus and Rowan counties: Pillowtex, 5,000 workers, 2004
  • Cary: InterContinental Hotel, 200 workers, 2003
  • Raleigh: VF Corporation, 70 workers, 2003
  • Cary: SAS, 50 workers, 2001-04
  • 12 of North Carolina's 15 Fortune 500 Companies offshore work9

Political action

  • In 2004, Governor Mike Easley ordered the return of 34 call state-agency call-center jobs from Mumbai, India, at a cost of $1.2 million
  • In 2003, Governor Mike Easley ordered a review of state contracts to identify those where work was offshored
  • In 2003, North Carolina passed a law making companies that incorporate in a foreign tax haven ineligible to do business with the state.
  • North Carolina has not acquiesced to Government Procurement Agreement—pushed by Robert Zoelleck, USTR—that guarantees foreign companies equal access to state contracting process

Foreign companies on state vendor list10

  • Auriga, Incorporated
  • HTC Global Services
  • I-flex Solutions
  • Intelligroup
  • Larsen & Toubro Infotech
  • Luxoft
  • Satyam Computer Services
  • Surya Technologies
  • Tata Group

State contractors who subcontract work abroad

  • eFunds—the work returned to North Carolina in August 2004

Key articles

  • Stella M. Hopkins, “Report Says North Carolina's Information Tech Work Hard to Trace Abroad,” Charlotte Observer, 7/15/04
  • Stella M. Hopkins and Ted Mellnik, “Outsourcing Draining Jobs Nationwide,” Charlotte Observer, 7/5/04
  • Stella M. Hopkins and Ted Mellnik, “Billions in Salaries Could Flee Carolinas,” Charlotte Observer, 6/27/04
  • Stella M. Hopkins, “India Thrives On Work Outsourced By U.S. High-Tech Firms,” Charlotte Observer, 6/27/04
  • Stella M. Hopkins, “Report Discusses Acceleration of Outsourcing in U.S.,” Charlotte Observer, 5/18/04
  • Stella M. Hopkins, “BofA Expands Further into India Outsourcing; Bank Plans to Hire up to 1,500 Workers at New Unit to Open this Month,” Charlotte Observer, 5/9/04
  • Stella M. Hopkins, “Relying on India a Key Strategy for Financial Firms,” Charlotte Observer, 5/9/04
  • “Bank of America Expands India Outsourcing,” Associated Press, 5/9/04
  • “Tech Firm Scales Back in Charlotte,” Business Journal, 3/26/04
  • Marta Hummel, “Easley Vows to Save Jobs: Governor Pushes for Pursuing a Complaint Against China,” News & Record (Greensboro, NC), 3/24/04
  • “N.C. DOT Wants to Know if It Can Set Outsourcing Ban,” Associated Press, 3/23/04
  • Mark Schreiner, “Offshoring Jobs Becomes an Issue for Some State Officials,” Star News (Wilmington, NC), 3/22/04
  • Jane M. von Berger, “Displaced Americans Fight Job Loss; Laid-off Technology Workers Band Together Against Outsourcing,” Charlotte Observer, 3/11/04
  • Rob Christensen, “Easley Seeks Return Of Jobs; State Call Center Operating In India,” News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), 3/10/04
  • “States Consider Limiting Outsourcing,” CNN / Lou Dobbs Tonight (Excerpt), 2/17/04
  • Stella M. Hopkins, “States Battle Overseas Job Drain,” Charlotte Observer, 2/7/04
  • Jonathan B. Cox, “IBM Jobs Headed Abroad,” News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), 12/16/03
  • Stella M. Hopkins and Sarah Jane Tribble, “North Carolina Companies among Leaders in Sending Computer Jobs Overseas,” Charlotte Observer, 12/14/03
  • Amy Martinez, “Jobs That Won't Leave,” News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), 8/31/03
  • Stella M. Hopkins and Sarah Jane Tribble, “North Carolina Governor Orders Review of State Contracts, Vendors,” Charlotte Observer, 8/14/03
  • Jonathan B. Cox, “Where Will Workers Go?” News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), 8/3/03
  • Tony Mecia and Adam Bell, “Pillowtex Folds; 7,650 Employees to Lose Jobs,” Charlotte Observer, 7/31/03
  • Amy Martinez, “Pillowtex Goes Bust, Cuts 5,500 N.C. Jobs,” News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), 7/31/03

1Economic Policy Institute (EPI), “JobWatch – State Data,” 9/17/04.
2Bureau of Labor Statistics.
3EPI, “JobWatch – State Data.”
4EPI, “JobWatch – State Data.”
5Bureau of Labor Statistics.
6This figure reflects jobs that could move offshore because of occupational attributes, not those that will actually move (which will most likely be far fewer). It is derived from 2003 BLS data analyzed by Dr. Cynthia Kroll, Senior Regional Economist, Fisher Center of Real Estate, University of California-Berkeley.
7Robert Scott, “The High Price of ‘Free’ Trade; NAFTA’s Failure has Cost the United States Across the Nation,” Economic Policy Institute, 11/17/03.
8U.S. Census Bureau, “Historical Income Tables — Median Household Income by State 1984 to 2004”
9Stella M. Hopkins and Sarah Jane Tribble, “North Carolina Companies among Leaders in Sending Computer Jobs Overseas,” Charlotte Observer, December 14, 2003
10Philip Mattera, “Your Tax Dollars at Work … Offshore: How Foreign Outsourcing Firms are Capturing State Government Contracts,” [
Acrobat 38K] WashTech/Good Jobs First, July 2004

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