Computer jobs likely to go overseas

Denver, Boulder may see big losses by 2015, study says

James Paton, Rocky Mountain News

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Denver and Boulder are among around a dozen areas likely to see a big chunk of their computer programming and software engineering positions migrate to overseas markets between 2004 and 2015.

That's from a new study by the Brookings Institution.

"The report's message, though neither complacent nor alarmist, does require attention and action," the authors wrote.

The two Colorado cities are expected to watch at least 17 percent of the jobs in those sectors, as well as data entry, disappear because of "offshoring," the report found.

Boulder also is seen as one of only five spots expected to lose 3.1 percent to 4.3 percent of its jobs to other countries during the period because of positions moving to other nations, the study showed.

The others are Lowell, Mass., San Francisco and San Jose, Calif. and Stamford, Conn.

The report urged state and local officials to "embrace a number of policies to reduce a region's vulnerability to offshoring."

The Washington group says offshoring occurs when a U.S. company moves some of its own operations to another country or outsources work to another business beyond the nation's borders.

"Overall, the loss of service jobs to offshoring in the near future will be modest," it said. "However, offshoring's impact will be greater in metropolitan areas with high shares of information technology or back-office service jobs."

Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., said the region is trying to improve training for young Coloradans to do science and engineering jobs.

"From a public policy standpoint, we also have to be strategic in how we help our companies compete in terms of the tax and regulatory environment," he said.

Prices in 2006 rise at fastest pace in five years

Denver-area residents who received a raise of less than 3.6 percent in 2006 lost ground as prices rose at the fastest clip since 2001.

That was the inflation rate in the Denver, Boulder and Greeley region last year, when increases for clothes, medical care, transportation and other items easily offset cooler energy costs.

Local consumer prices grew more quickly than the 3.2 percent average for all cities, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

It's hard to tell whether wages kept up with inflation in 2006. Those figures aren't out.

Workers and business owners around the state are looking closely at the consumer price data.

Colorado has raised the minimum wage to $6.85 an hour from $5.15. The minimum will climb each year starting in 2008 based on inflation as measured by the Denver-Boulder-Greeley CPI.

Opponents of the measure had argued that business owners in rural Colorado should not face annual wage increases linked to a CPI figure with Denver at the core.

A basket of items that cost $100 during the 1982 to 1984 base period cost $197.70 in Denver in 2006.

patonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2544