IT jobs: What Obama & McCain promise

With only a week to go for Presidential polls, Democratic nominee Barack Obama is keeping his rhetoric on outsourcing alive.

Holding the Bush administration and by extension his Republican rival John McCain for the current economic recess, Obama said that it is time to turn the page on eight years of economic policies that put Wall Street before Main Street but ended up hurting both.

So, do Indian companies really need to worry if Obama comes to power (which he will in all likelihood), or is it just election rhetoric? Would Republican nominee Senator John McCain be better for Indian IT industry? We look into the lengthy tech policy papers released by the two candidates for answers

Obama on out sourching
Obama wants to end tax breaks for companies that ship US jobs overseas. Says his tech paper, "An Obama administration will foster home-grown innovation and ensure that we can retain and grow high-paying jobs in fast-growing sectors in the sciences and technology rather than exporting those jobs to lower cost labor markets abroad. As offshoring becomes more of a long-term workforce management strategy and less of a perceived short-term cost savings, it presents a significant challenge to young people growing up in America’s historically low-income and working-class communities."

Interestingly, in a recent interview when asked about contentious issues of outsourcing and globalisation, Obama said, "We know that we cannot and should not put up walls around our economy."

Acknowledging that global competition is a fact that cannot be reversed, Obama said, "But we must find a way to make globalisation and trade work for American workers."

McCain's take on outsourcing

Republican nominee McCain opposes efforts to restrict US agencies from outsourcing some services.

He says in his tech policy paper, "Trade greatly benefits America and the American worker. The best protection for American workers is to ensure that they have access to the world’s customers, 95 percent of whom live outside the United States. This access is particularly important for workers in the information technology sector where the United States has so much to offer the rest of the world.

Lower tariffs on American products benefit American companies and create American jobs. Moreover, the Internet allows a global marketplace to emerge as the Internet knows no boundaries. As President, John McCain will promote fair trade agreements to give America’s high tech workers the opportunity to compete and continue to win in the global marketplace."