Nursing Shortage in the U.S.

Excellent (audio) documentary from WBUR in Boston. Unless young Americans start taking up nursing, we will have a massive crisis in the next decade or two. Thirty thousand nurses from overseas are being recruited to work in the U.S. every year. Half are from the Philippines.

Philippines as an Outsourcing Center

From the Washington Post:

... The Philippines, with a large pool of English speakers and a cultural affinity with the United States, is developing as a strong second to India in the global outsourcing market.

... The Philippines earned $3.6 billion from outsourcing in 2006, up 50 percent from the previous year, and the government estimates revenue could jump to $12.2 billion by 2010 as the industry diversifies.

India, the leader in the global outsourcing market, earned $6.2 billion in the 12 months to March 2006, and this is likely to jump to $8 billion in the year to March 2007.

Even outsourcing firms based in India are moving some of their operations to the Philippines.

... "If you want to do a marketing kind of thing, India is not the place. Go to the Philippines because the cultural affinity is very, very high," Karnik said at a recent conference in Manila.

The stakes are high, with the Philippines tapping less than a fifth of the $80-billion global outsourcing market at the end of 2006. India corners at least 43 percent.

A.T. Kearney Ranks Outsourcing Hubs

The Philippines finished in the Top 4. From the Wall St. Journal (subscription required):