AI may dominate the headlines as the main threat to white-collar work, but it is far from the only one. A quieter, equally disruptive trend is reshaping the workforce: the steady offshoring of professional roles once considered secure.
For decades, we watched manufacturing jobs leave U.S. shores, chasing cheaper labor overseas. Entire towns were gutted when factories closed, and the ripple effects are still being felt today. Now, companies are sending accounting, customer support, software development, marketing, and HR roles overseas, often to regions where wages are a fraction of U.S. levels. Workers in some of these markets earn pennies on the dollar compared to their American counterparts, allowing corporations to cut costs dramatically while maintaining or even increasing profit margins.
What’s frustrating is how this trend clashes with the “Buy American” and “American Company” branding many corporations love to push. You’ll see ads featuring U.S. workers, flags waving in the background, and messaging about supporting American jobs, while behind the scenes, departments are being quietly relocated offshore. The same companies that celebrate their American identity are often the ones signing contracts with global staffing firms to build remote teams abroad.
While offshoring might make sense on a balance sheet, the long-term impact is harder to ignore. Every job that leaves the U.S. means less money circulating in local economies, fewer taxes for schools and infrastructure, and more pressure on domestic workers to compete with global wage rates. It drives a race to the bottom where the value of skilled labor is measured purely in cost savings, not quality, loyalty, or economic contribution.
This isn’t to say global collaboration is inherently bad. International teams can bring diversity, innovation, and around-the-clock productivity. But when the driving force is solely cost cutting, it erodes trust from employees and from customers who buy into the idea of supporting an “American company.”
Forward-thinking organizations have an opportunity to rethink what “value” means. Instead of hollowing out their domestic workforce, they can invest in upskilling, automation that complements rather than replaces workers, and hybrid models that balance global efficiency with local impact.
Offshoring white-collar work is the continuation of a decades-long pattern that risks undermining the very economy companies rely on for their customer base. If businesses want to be seen as authentically “American,” they must align their branding with their business practices and consider the long-term consequences of shipping more and more jobs overseas. Not only should it be "buy American" but "hire American" as well.
Joshua Banks
Digital Marketing Leader & Strategist