Online Tutor For English
By Sue Gench
In the last decade US corporate businesses have practiced a trend called outsourcing. Since 1990's American corporations have laid off American workers to cut labor cost in the United States, and then set up their factories and manufacturing plants abroad, especially in China and India because of highly trained cheap workforce and business friendly deregulated environment of these countries. Not hiring the workforce of their own country or cutting down their own country's work workforce in order to hire cheap labor from other countries is a practice originated by US corporate business and are expanding into other industrial nations around the world in the last decade.This trend is called outsourcing. India and China are technologically advancing rapidly with their highly trained workforce in manufacturing of clothing, computer and digital communication products. Today, majority of US computer and digital products are made mostly in China or India. Apart from manufacturing industries, US finance and banking industries hire Indians because English is the official language of this country and educated Indians speak fluent English. In addition to English fluency, Indians' hightech skills and exemplary work ethics induce American corporations to hire Indians as Computer Software Engineers and Online Customer Service Representatives. Below is a conversation on the topic of outsourcing.
Helen : Hi, Mary. It's good to see you. How have you been?
Mary: It's good to see you, too. I have just got a new job.
Helen : Oh! You were so happy about your job. You've worked there so long. How come?
Mary: Yes, I have. But my company is now outsourcing the jobs to China and India. So, I was laid off.
Helen : My Goodness! You have worked there so long? How many years was it?
Mary: I've worked for them fifteen years. They gave me one-year severance pay and a three-month notice.
Helen: Good Heavens!. How did you cope with that? I imagine it must have been very hard on you. Besides, you have two children.
Mary: I was devastated. It took me several months to pull myself together. Thank God. My husband works for government. There is no such a thing as outsourcing jobs in government. I've kept busy with my children for the first three months. Then, I started my job hunting.
Helen: Do you have a job now?
Mary: Yes, I have got a new job. It took me three months to get a new job. Now, I have got a new job since last month. I work as an office manager and earn much less in this job.
Helen : But, at least you have something. I hear a lot about job outsourcing of U.S. companies, it worries me a lot.
Mary: Yeah. It is a current trend in the U.S. economy. We'll talk more later. I have to go now. Here's my telephone number.
Helen: Here is mine, too. Call me sometime next week.
Mary: Ok. I'll do that. Happy Holidays to you and your family. See you again, Helen.
Helen : The same to you and your family, too. See you soon, Mary.
1. What is the topic of this conversation?
2. Why did Mary lose her job?
3. What is outsourcing?
4. Tell us if American companies set up businesses in your country and hire local people. If so, are people making better wages working for American companies in your country.
5. Tell us what effects of outsourcing you see in your own country.
practice: transitive verb. to engage in certain activities such as business, sports, hobby
trend: collective behavior pattern in a group, society, country or the world.
lay off: to let workers go due to lack of work
cut cost: to decrease cost such as labor cost advertising cost, etc.
deregulated: past-participle of the verb 'deregulate': to remove laws, regulations for business in order to give more incentives for business expansion
set up: prepositional verb. to establish, build
manufacturing plan: compound noun. factory
abroad: adverb. outside a country
professional: noun. trained to be prepared with knowledge and skills to perform effectively for a given job, work, vocation
hire: to give a paying job to a worker
cut down: to decrease in quantity. for example, cut down red meat, cut down expenses, cut down labor
expand into: go larger in volume and scope. Example: This business is expanding into international markets now.
advancing adjective of verb advance going ahead., moving forward, progressing
apart from: adverb. in addition
hightech: advanced computer technologies
exemplary:adverb. of high quality in performance, product, service
work ethics: set of more guidelines workers understand and practice without enforcement
induce: to motivate other person to do what we want
job: noun. work we do to make money
have got: present perfect tense of get: to have something
to be happy about:to feel good about something, people, event, and etc.
How come: idiom. how is it possible?
outsource: transitive and intransitive verb. to cut jobs in a domestic country and hire workers from other countries
laid off: past and past perfect of lay off. idiom verb.
severance: an. hard times, economic difficulty
pay: an. money we make by working at a job
severance pay: compound an. extra pay to help a worker survive for a short period of time
to cope with: idiom verb. to try hard to do our best in a difficult situation
to be shocked: idiom. to be extremely surprised. negative meaning
notice: an. a written statement to let a worker know he or she will be laid off
to be hard on someone: idiom phrase: to give hard time
to keep busy: idiom phrase. to be busy continuously
job hunting: idiom. looking for a job very hard
worry oneself verb transitive to cause someone to worry
it worries me: something that causes me to worry
at least: adverb. better than nothing
to be hard on someone: idiom phrase: to give hard time
trend: noun. certain way of behavior
see you again: informal: I wish to see you again
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