>Hi Jordan,
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>I would argue then that the overwhelming reason for moving jobs overseas is not technical expertise, but cost. In the U.S. it costs so much more to hire someone with the same qualifications or capabilities. Even straight out of school. We have so many more costs involved in running a business and hiring employees here than in other countries. Benefits and working conditions are the main costs but there are more. Also, very few young, qualified technical people will work for the same amount of money in the U.S. as they will overseas. So in the long run, for a quarter of the cost, companies can get the same qualifications overseas. I don't know that recent technical graduates are better prepared and more qualified at what they do overseas than in the U.S. but it would be interesting to see some type of study on it. I recently read an article by Bill Gates (March 1, 2004) where he stated:
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>The top work force and the great research is still very much in the United States, but if you look 20 years ahead, there will be some challenge to that. But we are going to be doing the lion's share of our development work in the United States, because we have the best work force here, and the job opportunities for people in computer science will continue to be phenomenal.
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>from:
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>http://news.com.com/2008-7345-5167499.html
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>Yet I would still like to see a study that compares the technical knowledge and capability of people in high tech jobs in different areas of the world. So much has to do with individual drive, initiative, and commitment rather than education in some technical fields.
>

This is not true(for low wages). Mike Yearwood got a www.rentacoder.com VFP project because he offer low rate than we do :-). We observed in UT hiring offers for $11/hr. for job in Florida. Most of my 20-24 old programmers make the same money as USA programmers (with low cost of living). Average monthly programmer salary in cheaper Russia is $1200 per month.

I think that Bill is pesimist. May be he include in top work force, which do the lion's share of our development work in the United States, foreign programmers who moved in USA:-) with H1B visas or GreenCards.
I suppose that in next 5-10 years this will happens. USA will lost it comparative advantage in Hi-Tech. My expectation is that Chinnese and Indians will become major Hi-Tech nations. They will do what Japanese done