Pros And Cons Of Outsourcing In The United States

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In the United States our economy depends heavily on other countries to produce goods and services. This process called outsourcing which according to Merriam Webster, is defined as, “producing something, such as some goods or services needed by a business or an organization from outside sources and especially from foreign suppliers.” Hundreds of businesses rely on outsourcing as a way to create their goods or products that they eventually sell to people in the United States and other countries. Outsourcing has become a very popular method in the United States; however, it has caused major controversy in the business world. Outsourcing was first recognized as a business strategy in 1989 and has not slowed down due to the success that outsourcing …show more content…

Although businesses think of this as a great opportunity there are many downfalls of outsourcing. One of the biggest downfalls is that it hurts the country’s economy as it is losing the business to another country. Many large businesses employ thousands to hundreds of thousands of people at a time. In 2012, large enterprises employed 59.9 million people or 51.6 percent of all employees which shows how immense the workforce is in businesses (Caruso). When these large enterprises choose to outsource, they do not realize how many people are getting laid off work due to outsourcing. “In 1960, about one in four American workers had a job in manufacturing. Today fewer than one in 10 are employed in the sector, according to government data” (Long). The people that are losing jobs are family members and friends that have dedicated their adult lives to their jobs, depend on them to support their families, yet the company’s main concern is in more profit. Outsourcing hurts the economy in a broad way but most people do not realize that doing this can hurt a company internally. Security issues are just one of the problems that businesses face when choosing to outsource. When a company moves a product to another country, it is more than likely going to go through a third party organization. In doing this a