And to overload our minds with more and more figures....here are some more! New data by the US Government suggests that more office work is outsourced by foreigners to the US than to American companies abroad. US export of work like legal services, telecommunications, banking, engineering and other private services witnesses a huge jump in 2003 to $131.01 billion from $8.42 billion in 2002. These are figures reported by the Commerce Department. The figures for imports during the same time is considerably lower than the exports, $77.38 billion for 2003, up 7.94 billion from 2002.

Though these figures mean very little to someone who has lost his/her job, it also shows that the outsourcing backlash has chosen to concentrate on figures that show only one side of the story.

And in new developments, as outsourcing continues the variety of services being outsourced is increasing. From the usual back office process work, to more specialized work like equity research, to the new area of jewelry outsourcing. From jewelry retailers to departmental stores like JC Penny and Wal-Mart, the list is growing for sourcing jewelry from India. Reasons for the increase is availability of skilled labour, advanced technology and favourable government policies, which have brightened the prospects for domestic manufacturers. The Government has allowed duty free import of raw material and recently lifted curbs on direct gold imports.