Indian Call Centers Outsource Jobs To U.S. As Wages Rise At Home

Washington Post:

New York — Ray Capuana paces the rows of cubicles in a haggard high-rise a stone’s throw from Wall Street as his people hustle the phones and hope for a bonus check.

His employees are not bond traders, though. They are call center workers. Many are African Americans without college degrees. Some lack high school diplomas. They work for a Mumbai-based company called Aegis Communications.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[jk2001]

02:31 PM on 07/10/2011

There's a glaring error in the shoddy reporting - they keep mentioning H1-B and L-1, but call center jobs (and any low-skills job) isn't eligible for these visas! The H1-B is for jobs like engineers, teachers, doctors, and nurses. The L-1 is for executive management and specialized knowledge staff. That they get mentioned at all shows that the WaPo lacks a grasp of immigration law, which any literate person can learn with a few web searches.

[captainindustry]

05:52 AM on 05/24/2011

Call Center Orientation in Brooklyn, Day One.

Ok youse guys, first you gots to give yourself an Indian sounding name.

No, Not Tonto. Maybe Raj.

[greyK]

04:28 AM on 05/24/2011

it's very frustrating to call someone who can't help you with your problem. if you're going to do that just let the person talk to a machine and call them back with a solution. otherwise it's a -make-work non-solution.

[lvdragonlady]

12:35 AM on 05/24/2011

If this is not the most asinine thing in print today I do not know what is.
Disgusting, shameful and unAmerican.

[bryanzth]

11:07 PM on 05/23/2011

Let me guess... The agents in this call center have to learn to speak Mumbai English???? ;0)

I wouldn't doubt it! Surely! I do apologize for that! :-/

BZ.

[Lahonda]

09:00 PM on 05/23/2011

Heh! Now that is hilarious.

[loki]

07:42 PM on 05/23/2011

I have a sister who works in HR for a company out in California, and she was telling me the other day that they had over 4000 applicants for part time 2 in house computer help desk jobs paying $13 an hour and no benefits. She also told me she was shocked at the amount of experienced people with masters and phds that had applied for this positions. Unemployment is hitting everyone, except the top 1% of the ivy greed capitalist who created this problem.

[bryanzth]

11:12 PM on 05/23/2011

Well, there are about 1,000,000 jobs for that 1%. I wonder how many people would stand in line for that 1 mil jobs. The answer is: Whatever number of trolleurs who post on progressive sites and have eBay accounts.... (you know, rich people wannabees).

BZ.

[captainindustry]

05:35 AM on 05/24/2011

ouch

[brklynivn]

05:58 PM on 05/23/2011

How dumb these corporations are paying a foreign company to hire local workers, thereby sticking a big middleman between them and their customers.

[Judojerry]

05:54 AM on 05/24/2011

Read the story. A big Mumbai company has hired them, this company serves many different masters, no American company can get the volume of clients required(many of the companies the Mumbai firm contracts for are probably not American), though one should try, if it can be run at a profit they'll have no shortage of customers.

[Keyop]

05:48 PM on 05/23/2011

When i get an indian on the phone i get rude and tell them iam eating a steak then i make fun of the dot on their head and tell them to stop speaking gibberish.

[loki]

07:14 PM on 05/23/2011

I understand you anger against them, but they are just doing a job. They are not the ones to be angry at and insult. You need to be angry at the ivy greed capitalist who sent our jobs there. Not the people who are just doing jobs and trying to make a meager living.

[Judojerry]

05:55 AM on 05/24/2011

That's the second time in this thread you've had a go at the Ivy League. Piss off, parents should want to send their kids to good schools. We should want the best education we can get, don't judge people for where they learn.

[captainindustry]

05:37 AM on 05/24/2011

you are doing the right thing.

[santafesam]

02:30 PM on 05/23/2011

"This is Peggy"

[WindySailor]

02:02 PM on 05/23/2011

Ring. Ring. Ring.
[Telephone picks up]
Speaking in a Brooklyn accent - "Hello, this is Ramesh. What can I do for youse?

[independentjukebox]

01:19 PM on 05/23/2011

$12-14 an hour for what amounts to data entry plus a possiblility of $730 dollar bonus every month is not cheap labour. Another fact that goes untold is - unlike China, the US enjoys a parity and even a trade surplus when it comes to India. In the next decades India because of its military upgrades ( cureent assets are very very old), will bring close to 500,000 well paid jobs to the US.

[osofar]

08:30 PM on 05/23/2011

Perhaps India can bankrupt itself on useless military expenditures, just like the US!

[independentjukebox]

08:54 PM on 05/23/2011

or perhaps you can for once be educated on an issue before posting mentally bankrupt thoughts here?

[tacevad]

12:41 PM on 05/23/2011

when calling any "call center" with any issue I may need help with I will always compliment well enuciated English and hang up and redial for all others .

[osofar]

08:30 PM on 05/23/2011

You must redial all day long!

[tacevad]

11:15 PM on 05/23/2011

no, hardly ever need outside help. :)

[jflorish]

12:22 PM on 05/23/2011

I can't tell you how many times I called "customer support" and just hung up the phone because I didn't feel like repeating something 3 times and not understanding whats being said on the other end.

[bluguy8]

01:29 PM on 05/23/2011

everyone I know hangs up once they hear an accent. Its tiring having to repeat things and sometimes its 3 times before they seem to comprehend the problem

[Tenjikuronin]

02:51 AM on 05/31/2011

Yeah, people from the south have that annoying accent that makes it hard to understand what they are saying.

[Moxo]

11:17 AM on 05/23/2011

The GOP might dismiss the politics of "Old Europe", but the old and now outmoded income structure of Europe that resulted in high-cost, low-wage economies has found great favor with the GOP.