Home Depot moving white-collar jobs overseas

Image via WikipediaU.S. figures show American companies have slashed labor costs by moving millions of manufacturing jobs to China. A new trend involves many companies moving higher-paying, white-collar positions overseas too. Many American corporate call centers now are in places like the Philippines and technical jobs are in India. One example is Channel 2 parent company Cox Media Group, which uses overseas call center for some customer service questions.

Now, U.S. firms are quietly moving high-paying accounting, finance and human resource jobs offshore. National labor statistics reveal that in the past 10 years, American companies have slashed 2.9 million jobs in the United States. At the same time, they have created 2.4 million jobs for people overseas.

Local companies, like Home Depot, are among them. The company built an international chain from one store in Atlanta. Now it's moving white collar jobs offshore.

Channel 2 Action News has reported in recent years that Home Depot has laid off thousands of workers, including hundreds at its worldwide corporate headquarters in Vinings in Cobb County. At the same time, it's hiring hundreds of workers thousands of miles away.

Georgia Labor Department records show Home Depot has moved jobs from Vinings to India. Companies usually keep outsourcing details a secret, but two Home Depot executives taped a testimonial posted online for the outsourcing company in India now is handling some of their accounting functions. More...