Top 10 Jobs that will (most likely and least likely) Be Outsourced
September 23, 2010 
14 Comments
Nancy Folbre is an economic professor at the University of Massachusetts and by all-accounts, she is one smart cookie. Case in point, she did a report on “The Polarization of Job Opportunities in the US Labor Market” that said (among other things) that “Employment growth is ‘polarizing’ into relatively high-skill, high-wage jobs and low-skill, low-wage jobs.” Oy! In other words, the more skilled you are, the more likely you are to keep working.
Okay, so no big revelation there. But consider something else she says in her report, “Key contributors to job polarization are the automation of routine work and the international integration of labor markets.” in other words… outsourcing.
This had me thinking on a few things. First, why are some jobs (or rather, so many jobs) outsourced? For short attention spans, here is the gist…
Reasons why jobs are outsourced:
- It can be automated.
- It does not require physical proximity or person-specific skills.
- It is considerably cheaper to produce somewhere else.
Okay, so after thinking that, I began to wonder if there was a list of jobs somewhere that show you what occupations are most likely (and least likely) to be outsourced? I mean, if you had a list like that, it could go a long way towards helping you adjust your career. I mean, why knock yourself out getting a degree or training in a job that might be shipped to India one day? And if its hard now to get a job doing what I do, how much harder will it be to work later (even when the economy comes back) when nobody in the country needs my skills? Ugh!
Okay, so I looked around and I found out that the Bureau of Labor and Statistics put together some research that answered my questions. I decided to share the data here because… I can. So, there you go. Below are the top 10 results of jobs that will most likely, least likely be outsourced and the top 10 jobs that are in between. I have also included the actual report from the BLS below as well in case you want to go through it yourself. (Hey, if you are a US Citizen, your tax dollars paid for it! So go ahead and consume the data.)
Hope this helps!
-Jim
***
TOP 10 JOBS THAT WILL MOST LIKELY BE OUTSOURCED
- Computer Programmers
- Pharmacy Technicians
- Parts Salespersons
- Telephone Operators
- Billing and posting clerks and machine operators
- Computer Operators
- Data Entry Keyers
- Word Processors and Typists
- Tax Preparers
- Medical Transcriptionists
TOP 10 JOBS THAT WILL LEAST LIKELY BE OUTSOURCED
- Financial Managers
- Training and Development Managers
- Training and Development Specialists
- Meeting and Convention Planners
- Loan Counselors
- Health and Safety Engineers, except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors
- Mining and Geological Engineers, including Mining Safety Engineers
- Food Scientists and Technologists
- Sociologists
- Urban and Regional Planners
TOP 10 JOBS THAT ARE IN BETWEEN “MOST LIKELY AND “LEAST LIKELY” TO BE OUTSOURCED
- Logisticians
- Database Administrators
- Operations Research Analysts
- Aerospace Engineers
- Computer Hardware Engineers
- Marine Engineers and Naval Architects
- Microbiologists
- Chemists
- Historians
- Film and Video Editors
What are the chances that your job will be outsourced?
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Not too many surprises on the list of jobs likely to be outsourced, many of them already are handled virtually. But I was surprised by the ones they felt would be in between most and least likely to be outsourced. Having a hard time wrapping my brain around how chemists and microbiologists and computer HARDWARE engineers can be outsourced. Maybe I am not understanding what they do.
As long as the poltical environment remains hostile to business, the outsourcing of jobs will continue to grow, becaue it just makes good business sense.
You have a good article writer
And you have written well about the work
Sorry Jim, this blogpost makes no sense.
The BLS report is about the offshoring of service providing occupations, which is not the same as outsourcing.
Outsourcing is commonly seen as the contracting out of a business function to an external provider while offshoring refers to the actual geographical movement of relocating where “work” is done.
So in the context of offshoring it makes perfect sense that say “urban and regional planners” are on the bottom of the list, you can’t relocate the work because it’s tied to a geographical location. But such work may still very well be outsourced.
Any design engineer job will follow the manufacturing job. There is just TOO much advantage with having your engineers be able to aid in diagnosing errors that occur during manufacturing to allow them to be separated geographically.
Already companies are moving the Mechanical & Electrical Engineering jobs to China & India. The biggest stopper at the moment is finding GOOD engineers in those areas, but they are catching up fast.
The safest jobs are those tied to a physical location:
Pharmacist, Doctor, Elder Care, Financial Advisor, etc.
I don’t agree that Food Scientists are safe. That work can easily be done in any lab.
I don’t agree that mine safety is safe: As more mines move overseas, so will the safety work.
I don’t agree that trainers are safe: they need to train the workers, so they’ll go where the workers are.
Well I think we (painters) are safe but we are debating whether to have our computer seo outsourced. Any suggestions? We are the top painting company in the Denver area. facebook.com/heypaintguy
As businesses continue to try to find ways to maximize as much profit as they can for the company and its shareholders (through the use of conducting cost-benefit analyses and feasibility studies), I believe more and more American jobs — in ALL industries — will be outsourced as we go forward.
Great resource from another college professor!
Another job which is highly outsourced is of Writers. The internet world is full of content writers and Freelancers.
Sam,
http://www.minimartjobs.com/
Will you take wedding guest articles? I would want to publish pair article content listed here.