John McCarthy of Forrester Research --September 2, 2003

Boy, the stir John McCarthy and his crew have caused! The wailing and gnashing of teeth over the 3.3 million jobs that the US will lose offshore before 2015 started with a report from John McCarthy’s firm, Forrester Research. McCarthy is sticking to his guns, however, and he tells the various industries that will feel the pinch the most–software development, finance and call centers–that they would be wise to stop crying in their beer and start figuring out how to retrain the outplaced personnel. McCarthy, who is group director of research for the Cambridge, MA-based Forrester, originally put out the findings in November of last year. But the impact is still rippling through the US economy–the commercial real estate sector–still hoping that the recovery won’t be totally jobless–is bracing to bear the brunt of the bad news.

GlobeSt.com: You’ve predicted that 3.3 million jobs will move offshore by 2015. Is it all about cost?

McCarthy: It’s cost, it’s quality, it’s the ability to run multiple shifts.