A new report from Site Selection Group shows that some 10,785 new jobs were created at 24 facilities opening or expanding globally in September 2008: a monthly increase of 6,900 as compared to August 2008. That is, however, a 26 percent drop in net new contact center jobs in 2008 year to date over the same period in 2007.  

 

The growth continues to occur offshore, in locations such as The Philippines, Guatemala, and in the former East Germany, and in key U.S. strategic sites such as the South, Indiana, and the Pacific Northwest.

 

Announced new and expanded contact centers include JP Morgan (News - Alert) Chase (Taguig City, The Philippines) and AIG (Muntinlupa, The Philippines) hiring 2,000 and 1,700 staff respectively, Sky America (Asheville, N.C.) with 1,200 staff, SITEL (Berlin, Germany) with 1,000 staff, and Digitex (Guatemala) with 800 staff. ICT Group will be hiring 400 more people for its Spokane, Wash. site while Sykes will employ the same number at a new Greenwood, S.C. facility. 800 new jobs are being created at three contact centers in Indiana, from IBM (News - Alert), Charles Schwab, and Gannett.

 

 

Job losses in the contact center sector are lower than expected despite global economic conditions, reports King White, Site Selection Group’s president.  Some 1,010 jobs were displaced at six facilities closing or downsizing.

 

What will happen next in the wake of the recent financial crisis is difficult to determine. White has seen some of his outsourcing clients experience falling call volume from specific sectors such as financial services that will impact growth.

 

What expansion that will occur will be in the U.S. rather than offshore thanks to saturated overseas labor markets and a weak American dollar that will protect domestic jobs, he says. A continuing focus on customer service to retain customers also bodes well for American contact centers.

“We have historically seen call center jobs to be the last cut and the first to come back due to corporations’ focus on customer service,” explains White. “Call centers are cross industry operations so certain industries will be impacted rather the call center sector as a whole.”