Godless at Gene Expression (again), links to this article in Time on a boom in Indian outsourcing.

It may not be nearly as familiar to a lot of people here, but there's rapid growth in the outsourcing of highly skilled and high paying jobs to other countries, especially in Asia. In animation, it's been standard operating procedure for years now, as I wrote about here. Granted, animation is a tiny business compared to IT, computer hardware and software, but there's some real symbolism in the fact that one of the world's mightiest icons of business--Disney--relies on Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and other countries to help produce the product that is, in a sense, the moral or spiritual backbone of the company (even if it's not the single biggest source of revenue for the company; although it might be...I know nothing about Disney's revenue streams).

As I noted, it's a complex issue, one fraught with difficulty for people like Sab Maglione in New Jersey and increasingly, colleagues of mine in the animation business who see their jobs evaporating as more of the work is shifted overseas. There's quite a bit of hand-wringing around the studios lately about how virtually whole productions are to be moved overseas, with only script writing and post production to be completed here. Til now, all but the actual cel animation was produced here. From the point of view of the studios, it's good business. There's a willing, skilled labor force able to execute the work with sufficient quality control at reduced cost.

Personally, I'm a bit lucky in that my skills are transferable to other work (believe me, I've seen the writing on the wall and am already working at developing other possibilities), but I worry for people who are less technical and more specialized. Outsourcing does not bode well for directors, board artists, designers, and especially timers and checkers, the latter two being incredibly specialized, with no application outside of animation.

It's a tough call. Recognizing both sides of the issue, I cannot insist that one is right and the other is not. Both are imperatives that require serving. As I've long argued in other fora entirely, you must adapt, or you will die. The companies aren't going to stop outsourcing out of beneficence towards its erstwhile employees. It is therefor, on those employees to adapt and develop new skills, and start doing it now, while you still have some padding, rather than kick and scream about how the man is screwing you.

Too, I'm happy to see our friends and trading partners enriched in the process. Competition is good and healthy, and even as competition helps each respective country refine its abilities and productivity, it's also an engine for prosperity. Yes, some--many--individuals will lose jobs, have to adapt and find new work (I'm probably one of them). Taking the larger view, collectively, I don't see how this can be bad for any of us.

Is that just a little too fair-weather viewed?