Sunday, March 07, 2004

Each month, with economic reports show a depressingly low number of new jobs being created in the US, stories about outsourcing - sending jobs that have always been done within the United States overseas - start appearing. Yesterday's New York Times ran a story about outsourcing with a focus on companies that have backed off their prior policy of keeping jobs within the US. One company profiled was Countrywide Financial, one of the nation's largest mortgage lenders (how many times did we type "Countrywide Home Loan" in our index last summer?). Back in October, the chairman of Countrywide was quoted as saying "I feel it is Countrywide's responsibility to create jobs in the US, not outside the US." Well, Countrywide just leased 40,000 square feet of office space in Bombay and plans to create 250 customer service jobs there over the next two years. Seems like Countrywide's self-promoting statements about keeping jobs in the US lasted as long as the refinancing boom - you can't expect them to let patriotism mess up their bottom line.

No comments: