A struggling newspaper has laid off 80 workers, while a car manufacturer is replacing several dozen workers with robots: layoffs due to decreased business or automation are common. Yet another worrisome situation occurs when an Internet provider moves its call center to Asia, letting go thousands of America workers, which is one example of Americans losing their jobs to off-shoring. Off-shoring, otherwise known as off-sourcing, occurs when companies hire employees in other countries and is the topic of Mushero’s book. The author takes an open-minded look at off-shoring, being careful not to glorify or denigrate this trend.

Instead, Mushero carefully discusses the positive aspects of off-shoring, such as decreased costs for American companies and other countries’ favorable view of the United States. He also mentions negative aspects, including layoffs, foreign workers who lack knowledge of American culture, and huge costs in shifting work to a foreign country.

Mushero also gives ideas for helping laid-off workers, such as government-assisted training and new opportunities. Throughout the book, he also comments on various policies, such as the progressive income tax. In his opinion, a flat-income-tax system will encourage entrepreneurship.

Mushero offers plenty of evidence for his opinions and conclusions. However, he does not include any “about the author” information. Knowing that Mushero is a global technologist based in Shanghai, China would have put the topic in better perspective; you can see https://www.stevemushero.com/index.html for more information.

Another problem with the book concerns several noticeable punctuation and grammar mistakes. Also, some sentences are too wordy, such as “This is even more relevant in today’s global Internet-connected world, where global artistic and economic creativity could use America’s copyrighted materials to create so many new things.” (pg. 1990)

Perhaps a second edition will remove Off-Shoring the Middle Class’s weaknesses to allow its important messages to be clearer. After reading this book, you might become proactive in preparing yourself for the changes in today’s global workforce.