Survey: U.S. Companies Outsource More and Also Hire More

Outsourcing in the U.S. technology industry has increased for the first time in three years and companies have continued to rely on offshore centers to remain competitive, according to a survey conducted by BDO USA, an accounting and consulting organization.

Out of 100 U.S. technology CFOs polled, 63 executives said they plan to outsource or manufacture products outside of of the U.S.

Interestingly, of the companies who are not currently outsourcing, 84 percent said they are not likely to do so this year. But the increase in outsourcing is less likely to affect the technology job market in the United States. Overall, 43 percent anticipate the total number of U.S. employees will increase in 2013, while an additional 45 percent expect their workforce to remain stable.

“Despite an unemployment rate still hovering near 7.7 percent, the technology industry is rapidly growing, thanks to new technologies and trends like big data, mobile applications and cloud-collaboration,” said Aftab Jamil, partner and director of the Technology and Life Sciences practice at BDO USA.

Though they have outsourced the backoffice functions to countries like India and China, many domestic tech firms are hiring skilled workers at home to develop new products and solutions, Jamil added.

Manufacturing has remained the most heavily outsourced function for U.S. technology companies, closely followed by R&D (56 percent), distribution (42 percent) and IT services & programming (30 percent).

BDO says Apple, Lenovo and GE are bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. shores.

Given the survey outcome, the U.S. tax environment is not hindering international growth. A majority of technology executives surveyed do not believe that the U.S. tax system is hindering their ability to compete in a global marketplace.