Labor shortages, costs push banking jobs overseas

Bankers in America and other advanced economies have sent about a quarter of a million financial services jobs abroad in the last five years, including high-paying analytical ones now done in places like Poland or India.

That's not as alarming as it sounds. U.S. banks are still adding jobs. And some of the jobs moved earlier in this globalization trend may be coming back, thanks to customer resistance.

Those are some of the findings of a recent study by accounting and consulting giant Deloitte & Touche LLP, which has been tracking outsourcing and offshoring of financial services jobs for several years. The study found the number of jobs moved offshore jumped eighteen-fold between 2001 and 2006, and now accounts for an estimated six percent of all jobs in the financial industry.

Column