NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Jobs in the service industry are moving overseas to India, China and other countries at a much faster pace than had initially been expected, a study said Monday.
Forrester Research reported that the number of U.S. service jobs moving offshore will grow to 830,000 by the end of 2005, compared to its original projection of 588,000 -- a whopping 40 percent jump.
The report, released by the Cambridge, Mass.-based technology research firm, said it also projects 3.4 million jobs will move overseas in the next 11 years, slightly higher than the 3.3 million projection it had two years ago.
Customer and competitive pressures have caused services and technology companies such as IBM (IBM: Research, Estimates) and Accenture Ltd. (ACN: Research, Estimates) to expand operations in India, China and the Philippines, according to Forrester.
The two companies alone will add close to 9,000 jobs in India by the end of 2005, the study said.
But the report said media coverage and other attention focused on the issue may have backfired, making more companies aware of the trend.
"Visibility had encouraged more conservative companies to experiment with going offshore to protect themselves competitively," said John McCarthy, author of the report.
"After more than 30 years of continuous expansion in the services sector of the U.S. economy, offshoring will be the catalyst for turning attention from growth to efficiency," McCarthy said in the report.
Forrester Research said it interviewed over 100 companies and surveyed more than 1,800 North American business and information technology leaders for the study.
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