US Has Surplus in IT Services

"That the United States maintains a trade surplus in IT services is probably a surprise to many Americans bombarded by news that offshore outsourcing is sending jobs overseas. Despite the export of many computer-programming and call-center jobs, U.S. companies bring in far more revenue from business-technology services than they pay to foreign providers.
The reason some economists think we'll keep a favorable trade balance: The IT services that U.S. firms offer are more sophisticated than the commodity-type jobs sent offshore. "We have an abundance of skilled software IT labor, giving us a comparative advantage," says Jeffrey Bergstrand, associate professor of finance and business economics at the University of Notre Dame." 

Robert Blumen

Robert Blumen is an independent software developer based in San Francisco, California