Given all the recent debate about U.S. jobs heading overseas, few citizens are daring to say the virtually unsayable: that the shift in labor abroad could be good for the American workforce, maybe even the very shot in the arm we now need.

Of course the incentives for companies to take jobs offshore, even in the face of our swelling economic recovery, are many. Lowered payroll costs streamline operations, maximize efficiencies and enable heightened competition. Just as tectonic plates far beneath the earth long ago relocated continents, so are economic pressures once again forcing these inevitable changes.

Yet all too many American leaders, corporate and political alike, are pushing the panic button. Confronted with the prospect of losing jobs to other countries, they're reflexively doing some patriotic breast-beating. While understandable, such doomsday carrying on is at best shortsighted and at worst opportunistic.

Now certainly loss of jobs is always cause for concern. Some analysts forecast that by the end of this year as many as one in 10 technology jobs will migrate overseas. Over the next 15 years, 3.3 million American workers, both blue- and white-collar, are expected to lose their current jobs due to the trend toward outsourcing. The American worker is feeling paranoid, cynical, betrayed, accusing employers of sacrificing morale for money.

And, as a specialist on this very issue -- how to staff companies to make the best possible profit – I'm naturally sympathetic to this crisis. But in this presidential election year, I contend it's vital for both citizens and policymakers to see the whole question of which jobs stay and which go as strictly bipartisan. As it happens, my experience in the staffing profession has taught me several key lessons about the workforce that should be applied here and now.

First, it's reassuring to remember that the U.S. has weathered such crises before, going back to the Industrial Revolution, and bounced back better than ever. The patterns are ever the same. We invent a product or service, whether the mass manufacture of automobiles, telemarketing or the Internet. Competition arises overseas, forcing our companies to slash costs, subcontract (for automobile manufacturing, say) and focus better on the next big innovation. In the process, jobs come and go, only to come back again. Automobile manufacturing, with its newfound efficiencies perfected, is retuning to U.S. soil after years of being outsourced to foreign locales. It's called the practice of comparative advantage, better known as capitalism.

Second, every challenge offers an opportunity. Just as surely as we lose jobs today, so will we gain jobs tomorrow. And the wave of losses will actually be directly responsible for spurring the cycle of gains. Call it the boomerang effect. Reason: we will be jettisoning jobs that are to a degree off-strategy and therefore expendable. With the money saved, a company is free to invest anew in research and development on the next big innovation. A pendulum, by definition, swings in two totally opposing directions. The byproduct will be new, better jobs. Short-term pain, long-term gain.

Third, U.S. companies are responsible for handling these changes sensitively. As we've often advised many of our own clients, communicate your plans to employees, and do so early on, fully and candidly. Secrecy, on the other hand, is the womb of rumor and suspicion. And nobody should ever, under any circumstances, try to "spin" anything.

Such full disclosure shows more than good faith. It sends employees the right message: We value you. Explain that they are, as American workers, indeed unique assets. Spell out the future envisioned -- the good to be gained, the efficiencies to be achieved. This approach will preserve morale and focus, and a sense of loyalty. It will also place a renewed premium on innovation that could motivate workers to new heights of discovery and creativity, potentially setting in motion the next big idea.

Bob Mahan is chief financial officer of Ajilon Professional Staffing North America

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