Often the naiive question is asked: "From a global perspective, what is the harm in outsourcing? After all, jobs lost in one country are gained in another."
There are many answers. The most obvious one is:
Outsourcing replaces higher paying jobs in one country with lower paying
jobs in another country. Thus, the total amount of wages paid globally
decreases.
This above is true almost by definition. After all, the stated purpose of outsourcing is to reduce labor costs. This sounds positive until you realize that these so-called costs are the same as income and benefits for workers, and that means all of us. Even if outsourcing is not occuring today at one's own employer, it may well happen tomorrow. Even it doesn't, outsourcing affects the entire labor market in such a way as to drive wages and benefits down for everyone in the country where jobs are outsourced. There might be some effect on driving wages up in countries which get the jobs, but this effect is relatively small in comparison, since the wages for these workers are also relatively small.
Contrary to much rhetoric by politicians, there is nothing inherent about outsourcing that would lead to the creation of new jobs. Even if "outsourced" employees are ultimately able to find new jobs, they are usually not as well paying as the jobs they lost.
Some of the reduction in labor costs from outsourcing does reduce prices. However, this reduction is generally very small compared with the increase in profits. Unfortunately, this is not a net benefit for most people in the country where jobs have been lost, since their income has declined far more. In the country where jobs are created, prices may increase more than wages.
It is also easy to see who actually does benefit from outsourcing. Since outsourcing greatly reduces labor costs, it also greatly increases corporate profits. This is income which is highly skewed toward the most wealthy and powerful in our society, as is the ownership of corporations itself.
In most cases, the countries where jobs are moved by outsourcing have lesser environmetal standards or enforcement. So, there is a global increase in pollution and other environmental destruction.
Not uncommonly, the jobs lost are union jobs, and the jobs created are not. Furthermore, often the country where jobs are created has lesser labor standards and employee protections generally. So the global effect of outsourcing is to bust unions.