[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 23 (Friday, February 27, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1892-S1893]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN:
  S. 2143. A bill to extend trade adjustment assistance to service 
workers; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, I am introducing the Service 
Workers Fairness Act to provide aid for American workers facing a 
disturbing new trend: the offshore outsourcing of service jobs.
  Congress first established Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) in 1962, 
in recognition that international trade can harm our workers. The 
program was overhauled in 1974, and since then, it has offered extended 
unemployment compensation benefits and job training for workers who 
lose their manufacturing jobs due to import competition.
  Over the past decade, Congress has shown its willingness to adapt to 
increasing globalization by modernizing TAA. For example, in 1993, with 
the adoption of the North American Free Trade Agreement, we added a 
provision to offer those same unemployment and job training benefits to 
workers whose manufacturing jobs were relocated to Canada or Mexico. 
Most recently, when the program was reauthorized in 2002, we expanded 
eligibility once again. The program now includes workers whose 
manufacturing jobs have been relocated to certain countries other than 
Canada or Mexico. It also now provides assistance to certain secondary 
workers who have lost their manufacturing jobs as suppliers or 
downstream producers to firms that have been affected by trade or plant 
relocation.
  Despite these changes, one factor has remained constant: Trade 
Adjustment Assistance is only available to workers in the manufacturing 
sector. If a service sector employee's job has been outsourced to a 
foreign country, he or she is not eligible for TAA because the 
performance of services is not considered production of an ``article,'' 
as required by the law.
  I can understand why the law was written that way--until recently, we 
believed that our service jobs were not put at risk by international 
trade. But now, unfortunately, we know this is no longer the case. 
Hundreds of thousands of service sector jobs already have been 
outsourced to other countries, including China and India. A report by 
Forrester Research predicts that 3.3 million service jobs will be 
outsourced by the year 2015--and some economists believe that forecast 
is conservative. Last fall, the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban 
Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, estimated that 
more than 14 million service jobs are ``at risk to outsourcing''--that 
is 11 percent of all jobs.
  That is the outer limit of service jobs at risk, but it demonstrates 
that this issue will reach far beyond the software programmers and call 
centers that are receiving attention today. The Fisher Center report 
notes that the jobs being created in India and elsewhere also include 
the following service sectors: geographic information systems services 
for insurance companies; stock market research for financial firms; 
medical transcription services; legal online database research; data 
analysis for consulting firms; and payroll and other back-office 
related activities.
  In fact, the offshore outsourcing of service jobs likely will grow at 
a much

[[Page S1893]]

faster rate than the manufacturing outsourcing we have witnessed over 
the past two decades because there is an enormous cost differential in 
the wages of well-educated workers here and abroad. For example, the 
hourly wage for telephone operators in the United States is $12.57, 
while it is less than $1.00 in India. The hourly wage for legal 
assistants and paralegals in the United States is $17.86, compared to 
$6.00 to $8.00 in India. Accountants in the United States earn $23.35 
per hour, while those in India earn $6.00 to $15.00 per hour. Finally, 
financial researchers and analysts in the United States earn $33.00 to 
$35.00 per hour, while those in India earn only $6.00 to $15.00 per 
hour.
  The offshore outsourcing of service jobs already is having an impact 
on our economy. For example, it may be one reason that the recent 
increase in the unemployment rate is larger for highly-educated 
workers. From 2000 to 2003, total unemployment for workers with at 
least a bachelor's degree increased by 95 percent, compared to a 40 
percent increase for workers with a high school diploma or less. 
Statistics for long-term unemployment--representing workers who have 
been unemployed for more than six months--are similar. From 2000 to 
2003, long term unemployment for workers with at least a bachelor's 
degree increased by 299 percent, compared to an increase of 156 percent 
for workers with a high school diploma or less.
  The offshore outsourcing of service jobs also may help explain why 
the few jobs that have been created since the recession officially 
ended in November 2001 have been primarily in low-paying sectors.
  The question before us today is: How should Congress respond to this 
new facet of globalization and how can we aid these hundreds of 
thousands--and eventually millions--of service workers whose jobs have 
been outsourced?
  Although there are broader trade issues that we should examine over 
time, there is one thing we can and should do now, and that is extend 
Trade Adjustment Assistance to these service employees. The service-
providing sector provides more than 86 million jobs and accounts for 
more than half of our total GDP. We must extend the same helping hand 
to these men and women when their jobs are outsourced as we do to 
workers in the manufacturing sector.
  Trade Adjustment Assistance not only provides additional unemployment 
compensation benefits. Just as importantly, it provides training to 
help workers find jobs at a similar or higher skill level, including 
classroom training, on-the-job training, and customized employer-based 
training. TAA also provides reemployment services, including employment 
counseling, case assessment, job development, and supportive services.
  The bill I am introducing today, the Service Workers Fairness Act, 
would provide TAA eligibility to laid-off service workers whose firm 
shifts the work for the same or directly competitive services to a 
foreign country. It also would cover contract service workers whose 
contracts have been shifted overseas. Finally, my bill would extend the 
current provisions for adversely affected secondary workers to those 
who provide services.
  Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan noted that 
``rigorous education and ongoing training'' are critical in ensuring 
that as many Americans as possible can benefit from increased 
globalization.
  My bill would provide this education and training to service workers 
whose jobs are outsourced abroad. I urge my colleagues to join me in 
support of this important legislation.
                                 ______