August 3, 2005
The Honorable Carlos Gutierrez
Secretary, Department of Commerce
Room 5421
Fourteenth Street and Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20230
Dear Secretary Gutierrez:
Almost two years ago, Congress directed that you carry out a study of the irnpact of workfbrce globalization in knowledge-based industries. This was an effort to get the Department, through the offices of the Technology Administration, to confront ihe implications of off-shoring high-paying professional jobs in the services and manufacturing industries.
Off-shoring of jobs has decimated communities and left displaced workers wondering what to do next. In the 1980s, we witnessed this phenomenon occurring with blue collar manufacturing jobs. The message to American workers at that time was that they simply needed to seek retraining and more education. With new skills fhey would be able to take on positions tlxoughout the emerging knowledge-based economy. But the off-shoring of the last half-dozen years has been precisely in the industries we encouraged our workers and our children to pursue careers....
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