A blog for Colorado politicos has a post and discussion today surrounding a story that appears in the Denver Post and local NBC affiliate KUSA regarding the offshore outsourcing of a state project that proposes, ironically, to help disabled workers in Colorado find jobs. While I’ve touched on the impact outsourcing has on employees, I haven’t delved much into the political impact of the trade practice.

In one form or another, outsourcing overseas has hit manufacturing workers for decades. However, manufacturing workers are largely unionized and consequentially a fairly predictable group of voters. White collar professionals represent a large number of unaffiliated voters, so putting a stop to offshoring bubbled up to the presidential campaign level and became a talking point for Sen. John Kerry last year as part of a strategy to reach these voters.

The President’s response was strategic, linking the issue to the economy and his education and workforce training initiatives by saying that America needs more skilled workers so we can perform these jobs ourselves. Very true. America also needs companies willing to “homeshore” contracts by building domestic operations, much like Rural Sourcing in Arkansas is doing. It’s not rocket science, but it does take a strategic commitment to foster a domestic homeshoring industry.

Politically, it seems like neither party has a clear vision for the role of offshoring in our economy that has taken shape in the form of policy. Worker training is key, as are jobs for those workers. Tax cuts for companies that retain employees in the United States would be great, as would standards for government contracts that factor in whether the work will be performed domestically or offshore. If you know of states or agencies that work like this, please let me know.

Will this be an ongoing political issue? Oh yes. Professional service employees will continue to be a gigantic block of swing voters, and even as the economy becomes more robust, offshoring is a parallel trend that will create a job squeeze for both professional firms and workers. While the extent to which politicians and government apparatus can affect the trend is limited, the rhetoric most likely will not be.