The world watched with tension as the economy of one the world’s oldest and richest superpowers, The United States, began a course towards recession. Fear spread throughout countries as almost 85% of the worlds economy depends on the stability of the US economy. But did the US economy just suddenly spiral out of control? 7 years ago analysts in the US business sector were skeptical about the strength of the economy despite a rise in real estate sales, automobile sales and the success of small to large enterprises in doing business. Pundits claimed that one reason for the skepticism was that most of the purchases made were through loans or credit. If even just 60% of these purchases or loans were not paid, it would greatly affect the banks and credit companies’ capital. As it turns out their fears were true. Banks started to close, credit and loans companies were declared bankrupt due to inability of the public to repay debts incurred thru purchases.

Thousand of employees in the financial sector started to lose jobs, companies who relied on the banks for capital and loans started closing down because most of them were dependent on the banks for revolving capital which is used to keep businesses going enabling the companies to successfully provide employment.

One bright spot for the world economy was seen in the outsourcing sector. The rise of the industry provided employment for displaced workers due to recession. Questions of job security in the business process outsourcing sector were answered when in January of 2008, despite the economic slowdown, the sector proved it was stable and even showed signs of strengthening. This was partly because most companies found US labor costs too expensive and began searching offshore for cheaper operational costs. Call centers started massive hiring, from Human Resource practitioners, bilingual answering service agents to executive directors. But as the rise of employment rose worldwide due to outsourcing, it hardly benefited the American workforce as most companies in the US would rather hire offshore than onshore. Companies like Microsoft invested in the Philippines, India and lately opened a Spanish call center in Barcelona.

Business, General