Alarming report about U.S. jobs being outsourced

A shocking report stating that one in four American jobs could either be sent overseas or be lost to automation was released on Tuesday from researchers at Muncie, Indiana’s Ball State University.

A paper titled, “How Vulnerable Are American Communities to Automation, Trade and Urbanization?,” predicts the devastating consequences outsourcing and automating are likely to have on the American workforce.

Researchers looked at current data regarding job movement and potential displacement in the U.S. and concluded that “as many as 25 percent of American jobs could be offshored in the years ahead, at risk of replacement by foreign competition. And half of all low-skill jobs could eventually be automated.” This has the potential of affecting millions of Americans.

“We do not wish to be alarmist,” they said, noting that trade and automation-related economic growth are indicative of a vibrant economy. “The findings of direct and indirect impacts of displacement are not homogeneous across populations. The negative long-term impacts of displacement have been found to be worse for low-skilled, less-educated workers, who are likely to work in more vulnerable jobs.”

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