Bringing Jobs Back Home

Companies can be hard to read, so I’m not clear on exactly what spurred AT&T Inc. (T) to bring 5,000 outsourced high-tech jobs back to the U.S. But whether this is simply a PR move, something AT&T expects to otherwise meet its interests, or an act of goodwill and patriotism, this seems to be a move in the right direction.

Clearly, the U.S. needs more jobs now, whether that means creating new positions or bringing home existing ones. And perhaps this move by AT&T could be a sign of things to come. I sure hope so.

As I recently reported, outsourcing tech work abroad is taking a hit despite the savings it can promise companies during this time of economic tumult. Outsourcing deals of this type were at their lowest in six years during the third quarter of 2008. That’s attributed largely to companies’ general uncertainty and caution due to the economy.

CIMI Corp. analyst Tom Nolle recently told me we could see a general move away from offshoring by U.S. companies.

“The backlash against the support that’s provided by offshore call centers has been so radical and so horrible that a lot of companies are saying ‘we cannot afford, at a time that consumer spending and business spending is constrained, to piss everybody off. So we’re going to have to figure out a way to do this in house,’” said Nolle. “And I think they think the labor market is going to be more open, and they’ll have more opportunities to do that here. So I think that in the call center area you’re definitely going to see more activity to do more on-shore call centers in the U.S., be they run in house or by a service provider.”

If this is indeed a trend, I hope it also extends to U.S. companies hiring folks here rather than relying so much on individuals with H-1B visas.

If companies are proactive in making such moves, perhaps the government won’t feel the need to make such moves for them.

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