Current Projects
Off Shoring Study

The migration of U.S. jobs off-shore and its impact on America’s workforce and economy is neither a new, nor unstudied or unfamiliar, issue. From an economy-wide perspective, this issue has been at the center of frequent national debates about the benefits and costs of economic growth and trade expansion. However, the debates have not produced consensus on the magnitude and significance of the net migration of U.S. jobs off-shore or its impact on U.S. workers and the economy.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and others have undertaken efforts to expand the range of data, but these collections remain fragmentary and hampered by a clear understanding of what needs to be measured. Recent studies by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), The Brookings Institution and others have reinforced a growing consensus about the need for better data.

Public Law 108-447 authorized issuance of a grant to the National Academy of Public Administration (the Academy) to conduct a comprehensive study on off-shoring. The Academy’s assessment will address five fundamental questions:

• How should “job off-shoring” be defined?
• What do currently available data indicate about the extent of U.S. job off-shoring?
• What additional data are needed to provide a more complete assessment of U.S. job off-shoring?
• What factors account for current U.S. job off-shoring?
• What are the major impacts of job off-shoring on U.S. workers, the workplace and the educational system?

Center:

Academy Studies

Project Director:

Kenneth Ryder

Project Status:

Ongoing

Panel:

Janet Norwood* Chair—Counselor and Senior Fellow, Conference Board. Former Senior Fellow, The Urban Institute; U.S. Commissioner of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor; Research Associate, William L. Clayton Center, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.

Carol Carson—Former Director, Statistics Department, International Monetary Fund; Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S Department of Commerce; positions with the Department of Commerce, including Deputy Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Chief Economist and Editor-in-Chief of the Survey of Current Business; Fellow, National Association of Business Economics; Member, Executive Committee, Conference on Research in Income and Wealth

Manny Deese*—Managing Partner, Deese, Hastings, & Miller. Former Executive Vice President, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia; City Manager, Assistant City Manager for Operations, and Assistant City Manager for Administration, City of Richmond, Virginia; Assistant to the City Manager, City of Alexandria, Virginia.

William Fischer*—Former Senior Vice President for Business and Finance, Northwestern University; Vice President for Budget and Finance, University of Colorado; Executive Vice President, Brandeis University; Vice President for Budget and Finance, University of Colorado; Assistant Secretary for Planning and Budget, U.S. Department of Education; Deputy Administrator, Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy; Deputy Associate Director for Human Resources, and Deputy Assistant Director for Legislative Reference, U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

Norman Johnson*—Professor/Director, School of Business and Industry, Florida A&M University. Former President and Elected Member, Atlanta School Board; Special Assistant to the Provost, Georgia Institute of Technology; Associate Vice President for Academic Human Resource Development, and Professor of Organizational Effectiveness, Carnegie Mellon University; Associate Dean, Professor of Social Policy, and Chair, M.S. Program, School of Urban and Public Affairs, Carnegie Mellon.

Frank Reeder*—President, The Reeder Group. Former Director, Office of Administration, The White House. Former positions with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget: Deputy Associate Director for Veterans Affairs and Personnel; Assistant Director for General Management and Deputy Assistant Director; Chief, Information Policy Branch and Deputy Chief; Policy Analyst; Chief, Systems Development Branch. Former Deputy Director, House Information Systems, and Committee Staff, Committee on House Administration, U.S. House of Representatives. Former positions with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Defense focusing on information technology and systems.

John Rolph—Professor, University of Southern California, Los Angeles; Founding Head, RAND Statistics Group; Faculty positions at the University of London, Columbia University, the RAND Graduate School of Policy Studies, and the RAND/UCLA Health Policy Center; Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the International Statistical Institute; Chair of the National Research Council’s Committee on National Statistics.

Susan Schwab*—President/CEO University System of Maryland Foundation and Vice Chancellor for Advancement of the System; former Dean, School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland; former Director, Corporate Business Development, Motorola, Inc.; Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General, U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, U.S. Department of Commerce; Legislative Director and Chief Economist and Legislative Assistant for Trade, Office of Senator John Danforth; Trade Policy Officer, American Embassy, U.S. Foreign Service, Tokyo, Japan; Trade Negotiator, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Dr. Susan Schwab Statement of Withdrawal from Academy's Off-Shoring Panel

Academy Fellow Susan Schwab has informed the Academy that she can no longer serve as a Panel member on the Academy's Off-shoring Panel. In her letter, Dr. Schwab indicated that "On October 28, 2005, I was confirmed by the United States Senate as Deputy US. Trade Representative. Pursuant to government ethics rules and practice, I need to step down from the panel. I have very much appreciated the opportunity to serve on this particular panel . I look forward to seeing the final report- even more than I had anticipated when I joined!" Dr. Schwab served on the Academy's Off-Shoring Panel from February 2005 when the Panel was formed through October 2005.

* Academy Fellow


Meetings:

Meeting 1: March 28 & 29, 2005(closed) (posted 3/22/05)
Meeting 2:May 23 & 24, 2005(closed) (posted 5/17/05)
Meeting 3: September 26 & 27, 2005 (closed) (posted 9/15/05)
Meeting 4: December 9, 2005 (closed) (posted 12/1/05)
Meeting 5: September 25, 2006 (open) (posted 9/15/06)
Meeting 6: Septmeber 26, 2006 (open) (posted 9/15/06)
Meeting 7: November 1-2, 2006 (closed) (posted 10/25/06)
Meeting 8 : December 11, 2006 (closed) (posted 12/1/06)