Corporation Push for Breaks, Then Outsource Jobs

Several top U.S. corporations are pushing for job-creation tax breaks while working to hide the number of jobs they’ve sent overseas. Latest data shows that multinational companies cut 2.9 million U.S. jobs while adding 2.9 million offshore between 2000 and 2009, The Washington Post reported.

The companies hand over the data to the government on the condition that specific company data not be revealed. Some companies pushing for tax breaks in return for U.S. job creation, including Apple and Pfizer, do not report their jobs breakdown, the Post reported.

“It’s an important piece of information that the American people should have,” Ron Hira, an associate professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, told the Post. “Should you listen to the kind of advice these companies have about how to grow the economy when their record and their model indicates they’ve cut jobs? . . . Or should we talk to people who actually do create jobs in the United States?”

Some large companies, such as General Electric, report the specific numbers in filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission. IBM Chief Executive Sam Palmisano has met with President Barack Obama on a number of occasions to talk jobs, but his company stopped divulging specific employment data in 2009, according to the Post.

Before 2009, IBM was shifting workers to India and experts think 2009 marked the first time the company had more employees in India than the United States. Other companies that don’t report the numbers include Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, Apple, and Pfizer, the Post reported.