U.K., Australia, and Canada Outsource More Jobs to U.S. Workers

Within the last year, outsourcing to U.S.-based workers has increased 367%, according to oDesk, the marketplace for online workteams. The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Netherlands and Spain have shown the largest increase in foreign country outsourcing to the U.S. The most in-demand job categories sought by offshore buyers include freelance web developers, virtual assistants, and freelance writers.

oDesk data is drawn from thousands of small to medium-sized businesses that use its platform to hire, manage and pay service professionals around the world. Overall work done in the United States on oDesk grew at a rate of 367 percent from 2007 to 2008, nearly 50 percent faster than oDesk’s overall rate of growth. While the majority of this increase was due to homeshoring, or U.S. businesses outsourcing to freelance professionals in the United States, a growing proportion was due to foreign countries outsourcing work to the U.S.
See additional charts, tables, and commentary here:

http://www.odesk.com/blog/2009/04/outsourcing-to-the-united-states-on-the-rise

“Overseas companies realize there’s substantial value in outsourcing to U.S. workers,” said oDesk CEO Gary Swart. “There’s no question these outsourcing decisions are in part being driven by exchange rates. Yet, feedback scores from oDesk buyers show that the quality of work done in the U.S. is on average better than the work done anywhere else in the world.”

About oDesk
oDesk (www.oDesk.com) is the leading marketplace for online workteams, with the best model for both buyers and providers:

For buyers: Guaranteed work — every hour billed is an hour worked. Screen captures of each provider’s desktop taken at random intervals enable buyers to audit the hours and work completed so they have confidence every hour billed by a remote team member is an hour worked. This capability also enables the buyer to collaborate more closely and redirect the provider if necessary, much like you do when you manage by walking around your office.

For providers: Guaranteed payment — every hour worked is an hour paid without the hassle of invoicing or slow-paying clients, making oDesk the preferred marketplace for more than 245,000 professional contractors including software engineers, web developers, graphic designers, writers, researchers, admins and customer service agents.