US President Barack Obama’s plan to bring back to the US jobs outsourced to countries like the Philippines could dampen employment generation in the country, but the success of such a move would depend on the cost-calculation of each business process outsourcing firm, according to economists.
“BPO jobs will plateau, will cease to be a source of growth for decent-paying jobs,” University of the Philippines economics professor Benjamin Diokno said.
He echoed businessmen’s concern that Obama’s victory in last Wednesday’s elections would embolden him to revive a bill that provides tax perks for American companies that bring home outsourced jobs.
“But as ADB argues we can’t rely on BPO jobs as a way out of our joblessness woes. BPO jobs are too few and are not appropriate [for] the army of unemployed and underemployed,” he told InterAksyon.com.
The Asian Development Bank had said the BPO sector accounts for only a percent of the total labor force.
But shifting away from a BPO-dependent job-generation tack as proposed by ADB requires legislation, which could take some time, Diokno said.
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