• 75,500 = Total job losses 41 months after start of recession, 3/2001–8/20041
  • 152,500 = Job losses in manufacturing 41 months after start of recession 3/2001-8/20042
  • -100,700 = Actual job growth vs. growth projected by Bush administration, 6/2003–8/20043
    • 133,300 = Jobs projected
    • 32,600 = Actual job growth
  • -177,000 = Jobs shortfall - Job growth compared to working-age population growth, 3/2001–8/20044
    • -1.3% = Job growth
    • 1.8% = Working-age population growth
  • 5.5% = Unemployment rate in August 2004 (4.2% = Unemployment rate in January 2001)5
  • 596,700 = Jobs at risk of outsourcing in Pennsylvania6
  • 38,325 = Jobs lost to NAFTA 1993-2002 (Jobs gained minus jobs destroyed)7
  • $42,933 = Median inflation-adjusted household income in 2003, down $456 from 2002, $2,270 from 2001, and $2,141 from 20008
    • $13.59 = Inflation-adjusted median wage in 2003, down $0.04 from 2002 and 20019

Recent outsourcing events in Pennsylvania

  • Irwin: PBM, Incorporated, 70 employees, 2004
  • Susquehanna Township: Earthlink, 800 workers, 2003-04
  • Pittsburgh: Mellon Financial, 230 workers, 2002
  • Reading: Agere Systems, 3,000 workers, 2001-03

Foreign companies on state vendor list10

  • HCL Technologies (Massachusetts), Incorporated
  • Mascon IT
  • R Systems
  • Tata Group

Political actions

  • In letter to Robert Zoelleck, USTR, May 11, 2004, Governor Ed Rendell rescinded state’s compliance with the Government Procurement Agreement - guarantees foreign companies equal access to state contracting process

Key articles

  • Dave Janoski, “Manufacturing Takes Hit,” Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader, 9/28/04
  • Bill Sulon, “Outsourcing Hits Central Pennsylvania,” Patriot-News, 8/1/04
  • Sam Kennedy, “Jobs Lost Overseas May Affect Valley Vote,” Morning Call, 6/20/04
  • Keystone Research Center, “Second Month of Job Gains Still Leaves PA With Large Job Gap, Keystone Research Finds; Manufacturing Jobs Drop for 45th Month in a Row,” Press Release, 5/24/04
  • CNN/Lou Dobbs Tonight, “Interview with PA Governor Ed Rendell on Decision to Withdraw from Government Procurement Agreement,” 5/14/04
  • CNN/Lou Dobbs Tonight, “Interview of Three Governors on Offshoring,” 4/27/04
  • S. Srinivasan, “Unisys to Set Up India Center, Hire 2,000,” Associated Press, 4/28/04
  • “Lawmaker Raises Risk Issues in Outsourcing of State Records,” Observer-Reporter, 4/25/04
  • Kathy Kiely, “As Jobs Go Overseas, a City Struggles to Reinvent Itself,” USA Today, 3/22/04.
  • “PA Governor Rendell Backs Plan to Curb Overseas Outsourcing in State Service Contracts,” Pennsylvania Office of the Governor, Press Release, 3/18/04
  • David Lazarus, “Collecting Debt Going Overseas,” San Francisco Chronicle, 3/10/04
  • Bob Fernandez, “Insurer Prudential to outsource work to India,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/10/04
  • Bob Fernandez and Jane M. Von Bergen, “Government Joins Private Industry in Sending Jobs Overseas,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/10/04
  • David DeKok, “Pennsylvania Lawmakers Move to End Job Outsourcing,” Patriot-News, 2/25/04

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”
9Keystone Research Center, State of Working Pennsylvania 2004
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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