Why did "outsourced workers get (relatively) much more expensive after"?

Essentially the thinking went. If everyone is remote, why not hire remote workers from countries that are a lot cheaper. Suddenly you had a hard time finding contractors and FTEs from those countries because everyone was hiring them. At the same time it got really hard for entry level developers in the USA to find work.

The supply/demand curve shifted and now those workers are becoming more expensive while domestic workers are becoming cheaper.

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mjr00 15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Great question. I'm not an economist so I have no idea why. The outsourcing rates I've all seen have gotten way higher in the past ~10 years though.

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Insanity 15 hours ago | parent [-]

Beyond just the usual inflation?

I'm not an economist either, but I also assume that as the country attracts more local talent for local companies, the competition for outsourcing becomes harder. (i.e, you now have to pay more than the local companies).

All just speculation on my part though, I really have no clue either.

	▲	PaulHoule 14 hours ago \| parent [-]
		People from Bangalore were telling me it was getting crazy expensive to live there (by Indian standards) circa 2013.

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giraffe_lady 15 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

India specifically is in the middle of a massive years-long labor movement that is changing the terms of work there and I believe shifting the degree of alignment with western corporate outsourcing though I'm not very informed about the details.

Scale is beyond comprehension though, there were 250 million people on strike one day last summer. This is not ever really covered in western media or mentioned on HN for reasons that are surely not interesting or worth pondering at all.

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givemeethekeys 14 hours ago | parent [-]

Americans can’t afford to strike like that.

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linkregister 14 hours ago | parent | next [-]

You're most likely correct; I originally started writing this comment to refute your statement, but found that my assumptions appear to be wrong.

Americans have the nearly the highest nominal and PPP income of OECD countries as of 2024, only behind Luxembourg, Iceland, and Switzerland [1].

India experiences substantially higher shelter and food insecurity and poverty rates than the United States.

However, tech workers in Bangalore are paid an order of magnitude higher than prevailing local wages in other sectors, at around ₹2M (₹20 lakh) [2]. Median annual rents for 2BHK (2 bedroom) apartments appear to be around 1/10th of that figure at ₹3 lahk in desirable neighborhoods [3].

It appears to be reasonable for a technology worker to be able to perform a sustained strike. I have never personally traveled to Bangalore, though I have lived in places where cost of living is under a tenth of median American income.

I invite correction by people with first hand knowledge about cost of living in Bangalore.

1. https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/average-annual-wages...

2. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/median-te...

3. https://www.birlaevara.org.in/best-areas-in-bangalore-for-re...

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leosanchez 13 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> It appears to be reasonable for a technology worker to be able to perform a sustained strike.

I don't think the strikes are done by tech people at all. Just normal workers.

	▲	linkregister 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Then indeed these striking workers are doing so bravely, especially in comparison to the wealth of American workers.

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dragonwriter 13 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> However, tech workers in Bangalore are paid an order of magnitude higher than prevailing local wages in other sectors

250 million people striking in India isn't mainly “tech workers in Bangalore”, or mainly tech and other elite workers at all. It’s about 40% of Indian workers, and most articles I've seen about it centered on widespread participation of workers in coal, construction, and agricultural sectors.

	▲	linkregister 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Thank you for the correction. Indeed these workers' livelihoods are more perilous than their American contemporaries.

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dragonwriter 13 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

No one (at a national scale) can afford to strike like that, except people who have an understanding of why they even more can't afford not to strike like that.

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netsharc 13 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

And Indians can?

When India "shut down" for Covid, day labourers suddenly had no income, and no government support - they had to walk all the way to their home province (can't remember if the trains were even running).

But oh well, Uberizing employment means the run-of-the-mill American worker can also live like that in the future... progress!

	▲	giraffe_lady 13 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Americans have chosen to learn exactly how good they have had it. You get to watch!

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esseph 13 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Can't afford not to.