While the rest of the Columbus job market is stabilizing, the area continues to lose jobs in the professional, scientific and technology sector.
Bill Lafayette of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce says salary pressure is forcing companies to ship technical jobs overseas - to India, China and Russia. A computer programmer who makes between $40,000 and $60,000 dollars per year in the U.S. would make $6,000 a year in India. Ohio State University Professor of management information systems Kay Nelson says the business environment will likely force more Ohio companies to move tech jobs off-shore
Some observers call the job shifting a "brain drain." Nelson does not. She says the jobs being lost are low level computer programmer jobs.
