Expert warns Canadian callcentre jobs at risk

By CP

TORONTO -- Canadian call-centre jobs, especially those in the Atlantic provinces, could be in jeopardy of being shifted overseas if burgeoning Asian and Middle Eastern outsourcing firms continue to ride a wave of global consolidation, industry experts say.

Roberta Fox, president and senior partner with Fox Group Consulting, said companies in India, the Philippines, United Arab Emirates and Ireland have been moving aggressively to bulk up their share of the global market.

India, in particular, has become the world's call-centre capital with its growing pool of English speakers, relatively low wages and modern technological infrastructure. The Indian government has invested heavily in telecommunications and it is estimated more than one-million call-centre jobs have been created there in the last decade.

"The labour costs, depending on what country, could be as low as one-tenth," Fox said. "That's a big deal when, in a call-centre business, two-thirds of your operating costs are human capital."

That means costs per call are a mere fraction of those in North America, making it cheaper for companies to transfer jobs abroad.

Ironically, Indian business and political leaders are merely duplicating a strategy first employed in Canada about 15 years ago.

Call-centre operations now exist in every Canadian province, with the largest concentration in the Maritimes -- particularly New Brunswick.

In the 1990s, former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna spearheaded a campaign to make his province Canada's call-centre mecca. By touting New Brunswick's low-cost labour, he succeeded in attracting big name corporations.