Archive for October 1st, 2008

The current global financial crisis is sending waves of panic even to those who, in theory, should be the least affected from it.  While this all started with the fall of Northern Rock and the food price crisis late last year, there wasn’t a big cause for concern among us at the time.  With the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the US government’s bailout of AIG this month, the faltering global economy cannot be denied any longer.  This week, the NYSE plunged over 700 points, and sent shockwaves all throughout the world, following Congress rejecting the Paulson plan.

If this is not a sign of crisis, I don’t know what is.  But let’s situate this whole thing, since we’re not Americans: if the crisis goes unabated and unresolved, we just might be the generation most affected from the 2008 global financial crisis: we just might be the first generation to experience massive lay-offs and unemployment since the Great Depression.

I’m not a very good prophet of doom; if all is gloomy with the global economy, then why are call centers and BPOs still popping out everywhere?  Why are job postings still being circulated all over e-mails and Internet forums?  These are all too good to last – in fact they should, lest we all lose our jobs – especially since anyone who works for the outsourcing industry is, for all intents and purposes, a “worker of the world.”

Sure, “slavery” for a BPO worker is a good metaphor, but there are a few caveats that should be raised about your average Makati/Ortigas/Eastwood wage slave:

• They are highly educated (many of which are pursuing their master’s degrees or advanced studies, like Medicine or Law)
• They are very skilled workers (adept at English, computer applications, troubleshooting, customer relations)
• The means of production now involves a whole new different form of capital (information, which is a non-material resource)

Outsourcing is a very unstable economic and business paradigm that’s difficult to sustain.  Employees, as well as entire companies, come and go.  Its foundations are shifting, transient, and inchoate.  The basic principle of process outsourcing and employee off-shoring is very coherent, and is consistent with capitalism: cheap and optimized labor, minimum costs, and maximum profit.  It’s exploitative and even oppressive, but the fact remains that this business model works.  The question remains: for how long will this model work so cleanly and efficiently?  When will this iteration of the capitalist machine break down?