Outsourcing costing Americans their jobs: Obama

Concerned over rising unemployment in the US, President Barack Obama today said outsourcing work to overseas locations like India has cost Americans their jobs.

In possibly a heartbreaking statement for the Indian IT industry, which gets over 60 per cent of its business from the US, Obama said, "...there still exists a caricature of India as land of call centres and back offices that costs American jobs. That's a real perception."

Addressing a US India business council meet here, Obama said, "There are many Americans whose only experience with trade and globalisation has been shuttered factories or jobs being shift overseas."

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The US accounts for about 60 per cent of India's about $60 billion IT and IT-enabled services exports.

A fragile recovery of the economy, coupled with high unemployment levels has seen US taking a number of protectionist measures such as hiking the Visa fees.

Earlier, Obama had also suggested that tax breaks could be ended for companies outsourcing work overseas.

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The unemployment rate in the US was 9.6 per cent for the month of October.

Obama, who is on a three-day visit to India, added, "As we look to India today, the US sees a potential to sell exports in one of the fastest growing markets in the world.

For Americans, this is a job threat as we recover from recession."