"Farm Shoring is Next Phase of Outsourcing"

From Global Services:

What if large corporations seeking to save through outsourcing stopped looking overseas and instead tapped rural domestic workers?

What if large corporations seeking to save through outsourcing stopped looking overseas and instead tapped rural domestic workers?

It’s not a distant dream, according to experts. With a less expensive labor pool than can be found in large metropolitan areas, Northwestern Wisconsin and Northeastern Minnesota might just be positioned to offer cost savings to companies both now and in the future. And the benefit would be mutual in a region that has long struggled with high unemployment and a lack of well-paying jobs.

Three years ago, Bloomberg BusinessWeek predicted some firms would shift away from overseas outsourcing, noting that high tech wages in India were on the rise.

“While India is still a great deal for many companies that want to cut costs on high-tech workers, some experts predict the labor savings there could evaporate in five to 10 years. That has spurred some interest in lower-cost labor markets in the U.S,” the business magazine reported in 2008.
In this region, that discussion continues as those having a stake in the region’s economic future try to identify opportunities for rural outsourcing, also known as farm shoring. The topic has been identified as a statewide strategy for Wisconsin.

“Farm-shoring, or the outsourcing of work to domestic rural locations, is gaining visibility among companies that would prefer not to ship U.S. jobs overseas,” Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, reported in 2008. “The cost of living, wages and work ethic in rural areas can compete with the cheap labor touted by offshore producers, especially when other advantages are considered.”...MORE