InformationWeek: 2005 A Record Year For Outsourcing

Workers loathe it, politicians rail against it, and one TV newsman vilifies it almost nightly. Despite it all, companies are outsourcing work at record levels, according to new data released Wednesday.

The number of outsourcing contracts--through which businesses hand off routine IT and back-office work to a third party, often operating from a low-wage foreign country--increased 9% in 2005 to 293. It's the most deals seen in a single year, according to consulting firm Technology Partners International, which published the data.

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Not all work that's outsourced is bound for foreign shores. The vast majority is still performed domestically, despite popular perceptions. In fact, outsourcers are beefing up their workforces in the United States. According to the Labor Department, payrolls among IT services firms grew by nearly 32,000 workers in 2005, a 2.7% gain for the year.

InformationWeek: 2005 A Record Year For Outsourcing