Not-for-profit versus for-profit economy
Today’s Boston Globe carries two contrasting front-page stories. “As economy gains, outsourcing surges” talks about how American workers at for-profit companies must compete with 84 million Filipinos, many of whom are well-educated, speak good English, and are delighted to work for $300/month. Things are looking more cheerful for U.S. workers in the not-for-profit sector. A front-page story on Boston University’s search for a new president revealed that the school decided to pay Dan Goldin $1.8 million in exchange for… not working at all. Considering that Mr. Goldin had yet to start his job, that’s a pretty good hourly rate. You could hire a staff of 45 Filipino engineers for ten years with that $1.8 mil!
[Update: the Globe runs a three-article series on “the white collar job migration”. Article 2 is “US workers see hard times” and includes a quote from a venture capitalist: “Right when you think about Employee 11, you should think about India. My view is you should not start a company from scratch in the United States ever again.” Article 3 is “US business students find opportunity is global” and talks about how MBAs are adapting. A more interesting article appears in the same issue, November 4, “As work shifts, internship in India the new rite of passage” and starts with “An increasing number of US students are going to India to intern at top information technology services firms or to participate in tours that allow them to network with the country’s corporate elite.” The American interns, most of whom are MBAs or MBA students, get paid about $350/month (compared to their old internships of $7000/month in the U.S.).]
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