Brief by Central Staff
Economy – August 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine
American companies keep looking for cheap labor and locations for back-office operations like call centers. Many have tried India, and have suffered on the public-relations front.
So, according to an article in the June 9 Wall Street Journal, they’re looking at out-sourcing in rural America.
“By moving out of major cities to less-populous areas in the U.S., where real estate and labor are cheap, some companies find they can save millions of dollars. And productivity gains are often palpable. Many small towns have lost a major manufacturing plant and are still home to an eager labor force. Call centers — where workers answer in-bound sales calls, provide customer support, or make outbound telemarketing calls … offer jobs that are easy to fill.”
The article listed Couer d’Alene (US Bancorp) and Twin Falls (Dell Computers) in Idaho, as well as Nacogdoches, Texas (Effective Teleservices).
Before our economic developers start salivating at these prospects, though, we should note that every town listed in the article was bigger than any town in Central Colorado, and even if labor is fairly cheap hereabouts, real-estate isn’t.
