Robert Reich was the Secretary of Labor in the first Clinton administration, and now is a professor of social and economic policy at Brandeis University near Boston. He agreed to answer several questions from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about offshore outsourcing, via e-mail. Here are his thoughts.

	Robert Reich

A: In the next five years, outsourcing won't amount to much. At most, we're talking about a few hundred thousand jobs subtracted from an American labor market that is likely to generate 10 million new jobs. In 30 years, outsourcing will be a very big deal.

Q: In your view, how big a role has outsourcing of IT and other service-related jobs played in the current jobless recovery?

A: Outsourcing isn't to blame for the slow recovery. The jobs recovery has been anemic because there hasn't been enough demand to restart the jobs machine. President Bush gave huge tax breaks to rich people who were already spending as much as they wanted to spend (that's the definition of being rich). They didn't turn around and spend their extra money. They invested it around the world. If you want to stimulate the economy, you've got to give tax breaks to working people who will spend the additional cash.

Q: What are the advantages of outsourcing for the U.S. economy? What are the disadvantages?

A: The advantage of outsourcing services is the same as from automating services (such as ATMs instead of bank tellers, automated gas pumps instead of service station attendants, automated e-ticket kiosks at airports instead of lots of attendants). Services are cheaper.

The disadvantage is also the same. People lose their jobs and have to get new ones. When there's not enough overall demand to create lots of new jobs (as now), people who lose their jobs may have to wait a long time until they find another that pays as well as the one they lost.

Q: What do you think of the move in Congress to bar federal contracts from being outsourced to other lower-cost countries?

A: A silly political ploy.

Q: What are the best things the U.S. government can do to respond to outsourcing and what are the worst things the government could do?

A: Best: Wage insurance for people whose new job pays less than the one they lost (say, half the difference for six months, up to $15,000). Portable health benefits, so if you lose your job you can keep your health insurance. Affordable and easily accessible job retraining and opportunities for life-long learning. Elimination of tax incentives for companies to outsource.

Worst: a ban on outsourcing.

Q: How would you advise a college student in America today to prepare for competing in the global economy?

A: Learn a broad field of knowledge rather than a specific vocation. Learn how to continuously learn on the job. Gain an understanding that in the new global, high-tech economy, there's no cruising altitude. Nobody's job is safe.