Naked CIO: Speak up for British jobs

Government to offshore more IT jobs? The Naked CIO says it's time to stop this trend before it permanently harms Britain.

After writing an article criticising the UK government for its lack of foresight with respect to a £1bn investment in UK start-ups, Her Majesty's government proves my concern by announcing that given certain budget consideration it may look to offshore more government IT services.

One of the reasons the government is facing decreased fiscal funds is directly due to the rampant and out of control exportation of British jobs, specifically within the technology sector, to developing nations. The government has done nothing to curb this trend and seemingly looks to encourage it through its own actions of sending labour abroad.

I can think of nothing more destructive to the technology industry within the UK.

The government seems to be blinded by imperial Victorian ideals, believing that India and China are part of that long lost British Empire. But today these countries, like all other countries in the world, have no particular care for our industry or workers - nor for that matter do these countries add significantly to our economy, especially in relation to technology.

This trend could lead to an age where we no longer have the skills or the infrastructure to support technology business or large-scale technology departments within the UK.

The net result of offshoring IT jobs is fewer British jobs and a diminishing skill base in the years to come.

I wrote an article a few months ago about the potential impact of offshoring on the future of British business. This trend could lead to an age where we no longer have the skills or the infrastructure to support technology business or large-scale technology departments within the UK.

Given the current economic recession, it's interesting to consider how we've weathered previous hard economic times. In recessions past countries have been able to rely on the manufacturing sector for reprieve; they have invested in this area to provide economic stimulus. Now however in many Western countries - including the UK - manufacturing has significantly diminished. It has been replaced by billions of workers in developing economies and so there is little capacity to stimulate activity in this area.

It is not hard to see that this offshoring trend does nothing to the future of British industry, ideas, innovation and ingenuity. My feeling is that these trends will cripple Britain's ability to ever be a true leader in IT and will deteriorate its reputation and capacity in the eyes of the world.

It's time to speak out not against offshoring but rather in favour of British ingenuity and British industry. We should be working to keep technology jobs here in the UK and convince the government that this is worth investing in.

If enough people feel strongly, our voices will be heard.

If you believe that what is happening to British jobs through increased offshoring in a time of economic stress is wrong, then please speak out about - as a comment to this article, to your local politicians, in the blogshere or anywhere else that we can rally critical mass enough to get people and government listening.