The outsourcing of high wage jobs from the United States to lower cost overseas locations is currently contributing to unprecedented levels of unemployment among American electrical, electronics and computer engineers. Offshoring also poses a very serious, long term challenge to the nation's leadership in technology and innovation, its economic prosperity, and its military and homeland security.

The main advantages of outsourcing are clear. Firstly, it allows a business to fix the price of supporting its IT, and secondly it alleviates the requirement to employ and maintain large bodies of IT support staff in house. Infant business use outsourcing as a way to cut costs and increase efficiency.

Outsourcing isn?t a new concept. The US textile industry began in New England, but following the Civil War, manufacturers moved production to the Carolinas because of cheaper labour costs. After World War I, textile manufacturing moved yet again, this time to countries such as Brazil and China.

IT outsourcing is becoming increasingly popular. Th

As IT organizations consider the vast benefits and allure of offshore outsourcing, they must balance the risks and uncertainties with the potential for savings in labour costs. Companies should be mindful of potential security breaches and not sacrifice intellectual property for profits. Whether the United States will benefit from the offshoring of jobs will ultimately depend on how the process is implemented. Prudent steps must be taken to ensure that offshoring, if it does occur, is implemented in ways that will benefit the United States and all its citizens.

Although much attention has focused on Asia, Eastern Europe could provide a far more formidable challenge to the United States in high-level research because of its deep roots in sophisticated technology. The former Soviet Union consistently produced some of world's most prominent scientists, especially during its massive defense buildup to counter the Pentagon's "Star Wars" satellite program and other high-tech initiatives during the Cold War.

What does the future hold for the American job market and the economy as a whole? Some say that the tech jobs already outsourced such as those in the customer-relations sectors are gone, never to return. Their opinion is that the US should focus on the ?next frontier? of technology. It may prove difficult for US companies to keep its position in as the top in the IT industry as offshoring builds the skill levels of workers in other countries. To ensure that the US keeps its status as the forerunner in innovation and R & D, the focus should shift away from the current one of IT programming and software, and funnel money and resources on up and coming technologies such as nanotechnology, material science, and biotechnology, particularly bioinformatics, a science that combines biology and computer science to explore complex biological processes such as gene mapping.

A major concern with outsourcing is the potential for security breaches. Some feel that sending this sensitive material abroad could result in high-security information ending up in the wrong hands. This could cause serious security issues, particularly if it is material vital to national security. Security concerns extend beyond those companies working on advanced R&D that is aimed at creating the next big thing. Others that maintain networks, databases and other internal systems are also concerned

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