For Immediate Release
Contact: Karin K. Freedman/Kyra Jennings
(202) 547-0001

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As the offshoring of American jobs becomes one of the most intensely debated issues of this election year, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) today released a report offering a comprehensive set of strategies to help America compete and win in the global economy. This report is the second in a series by PPI examining the offshoring challenges faced by our country.

In Meeting the Offshoring Challenge, PPI Vice President Rob Atkinson outlines the specific steps government can take to help the U.S. economy adapt and innovate. In the current offshoring debate, both sides of the ideological spectrum offer flawed and superficial responses to increased competition from low-wage developing nations. Neither the right's "get cheap" agenda of tax cuts and a reduction of worker supports, nor the left's inclination to erect walls with legislation that seeks to restrict offshoring, makes sense. Instead, Atkinson argues that we need a third-way approach, focusing on the creation of high value-added, knowledge-based jobs and an aggressive effort to ensure open markets and free trade.

"If we are to successfully compete in the global economy - and preserve support for globalization itself -- then, it is time for something completely different," Atkinson argues. "It is incumbent upon government, working with industry, universities, labor unions, and other groups, to develop and implement a national strategy for competing and winning in the global economy."

Atkinson recommends a series of concrete steps to implement a three-part "adapt and innovate" agenda:

• Raising Our Game. To meet the new global competition enabled by a wired world, America needs to once again focus on developing a national competitiveness strategy. This means boosting innovation through a more generous R&D tax credit, increased and more focused federal investments in research, and a national strategy to accelerate the transformation to a digital economy. It also means investing in American workers by creating a National Skills Corporation, providing more funding for math and science education, and making it easier for foreign scientists and engineers to work in the U.S.
• Getting Tough on Distortions of Free Trade. Trade distortions and barriers -- such as currency manipulation, tariff and non-tariff barriers, and piracy -- are a key driver of America's large and persistent trade deficit. If the textbook benefits of trade are to be realized, there needs to be as little distortion to global markets as possible. This means that it is time for the federal government to get serious about taking steps to stop currency manipulation, enforce global trade rules against product and service piracy, open up foreign markets to U.S. goods and services, and end subsidies given to companies that move production overseas of products or services sold in the U.S.
• Establish a New Bargain with American Workers. Because trade can be disruptive it is time to offer American workers a new bargain: if workers accept a rapidly changing and highly competitive economy, government policy should empower individuals with effective tools to adapt to change. This means requiring companies to provide at least three months advance notice of layoffs due to offshoring; extending Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits to service workers; and providing wage insurance for offshored workers. In addition, government should improve programs, including unemployment insurance, focused on displaced workers generally, and do more to help communities impacted by offshored jobs.

Atkinson concludes, "In the same way a champion athlete uses the challenge of a big game as motivation to train harder, we as a nation should use the challenge of offshoring as motivation to put policies in place that will make our economy a leader in the 21st century."

The Progressive Policy Institute's Technology and New Economy Project seeks to educate federal, state, and local policy makers about what drives the New Economy, and to foster policies that promote technological advances, economic innovation, investment, and entrepreneurship. For additional information, contact PPI's communications office at (202) 547-0001.