More on Job Security and Global Competition

Bad economic news plumbs new depths with the steep drop in the Dow, worries about Washington Mutual, and assorted concerns about financial markets and recession. And Hewlett Packard announces the layoff of 24,600 workers, half of them in the US. The Wall Street Journal story includes this bit of explanation.

With the EDS acquisition, H-P, the world's second largest tech-services provider, has taken aim at International Business Machines Corp., which is No. 1. But Wall Street analysts have expressed concern that too many EDS employees are based in the U.S. at a time when competitors are cutting costs by sending jobs offshore.

H-P's layoff announcement shows the company is addressing those concerns, said Shebly Seyrafi, an analyst at Calyon Securities. "They're basically replacing more expensive U.S. employees with overseas employees" who will work for less, he said.

Bemoaning brutal competition doesn't make it go away. While Seyrafi doesn't mention per worker productivity, winning that competition will be the key to retaining jobs here.