>Jan wrote- >I wonder what would happen if we started outsourcing the project >management, the accounting and the administration, Indian doctors are >cheaper, Indian Drugs, Indian lawyersâ I bet there would be quite a >number laws made quite quickly to keep this from happeningâoh wait, >there already are.
This is happening all over, maybe not the way you think, but variations that take money away from people who were trained in a certain career/profession. In medicine there was/is ongoing movement to train someone cheaper to do tasks (I will forgo the debate of skilled interventions vs tasks). Physician extenders are one example, job "enrichment" for OJT personnel is another, (hiring foreign trained providers was quite the rage for a while, but comparable training/ competency/english speaking quality made this more difficult once quality measures were instituted at state levels.) Probably the most classic example of cycles of highs and lows are nurses. Over my lifetime I have seen approx 3 cycles where nurses were "treated" to cutbacks, excessive hours, demands and delegation of tasks to others- to the point where many left the profession. Eventually their value was identified again, prices when up and nurses returned to the "fray". In therapy professions there has been mounting pressure to delegate tasks to lower wage workers for years. Then, as icing on the cake, the gov't cut back in Medicare several years ago, and workers went to work to find 30% pay cuts, 24 hour decisions to sign modified working contracts, on call shifts, mandatory changes in working hours without negotiation, loss of jobs (I think in some settings/parts of the country there were 20-30% losses). There was major geographical relocation of therapists and assistants, and previously "unappealing jobs" were filled. Quite a big change from "our time" in the 80's/90's where PT/OT were one of the most promising vocations in the country, to years with salary cuts (and if you were lucky "no salary increases". We are starting to see some return of salaries with cutbacks in those entering the profession and regulations, but granted public safety is probably seen as a bit less negotiable than code (in no way placing value on either, btw). Various professionals see similarities and differences in their paths. We can't stop people from trying to make money, I guess we need to survive professional evolution. I think it sucks if our taxes are paying to help locals lose jobs though. Dee _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
