The current resurgence of Manufacturing jobs coming back into US will certainly have its influence on IT outsourcing as well leading to some of the jobs coming back to the US. The statistics in manufacturing is proving the point already. IT Outsourcing was down 33% according to research firm Ovum, that was lowest in 9 years.

Couple of years ago pundits mourned the loss of manufacturing that would never come back. But the tide is turning slowly. Lots of factors are playing an active role in this aspect. Global recession sent business leaders on finding smarter solutions to reduce costs, automation has brought down costs to a good extent, pressure on unions to negotiate has helped drive labour costs down, it brought down pay that was sky rocketing, inflation is in check, cheap loans are common, government grants and subsidies are plenty, real estate is cheap, energy costs are down, market optimism is picking up, companies are hoarding cash and willing to experiment in bringing jobs back in manufacturing and be ready for the next boom when economy gets into full throttle.

This isn’t a blip. It’s the sum of a powerful equation refiguring the global economy. U.S. factories increasingly have access to cheap energy, thanks to oil and gas from the shale boom. For companies outside the U.S., it’s the opposite: high global oil prices translate into costlier fuel for ships and planes, which means some labor savings from low-cost plants in China evaporate when the goods are shipped thousands of miles. And about those low-cost plants: workers from China to India are demanding and getting bigger paychecks, while U.S. companies have won massive concessions from unions over the past decade. Suddenly the math on outsourcing doesn’t look quite as attractive.

The next couple of years will definitely see a rising trend of manufacturing jobs coming back which will pave the way for IT industry to look at this aspect closely some of it for the very same reasons that manufacturing is benefiting from. The cap on H1B more so going into lottery this year will mean companies source more locally. Large IT contractors needs resources onsite, lack of continuity in visa process means more jobs onsite here than offshore. The rising wages in IT sector in India and China is another aspect which is weighing on the minds of business leaders. it is expected to rise upwards of 50% by 2018 which will mean less incentive to offshore considering other costs.

If the market continues to improve leading to more investment here in US and as businesses see growth prospects and invest cash they accumulated during the last few years it will only improve jobs coming back.

There are still pressing factors like talent shortage, visa issues which still encourages near shoring to low-cost locations, cost savings which still seems attractive, new technologies that have severe shortage here while it is available offshore like Big Data, Cloud which are in huge demand now and the fact that today’s business thrives more in a global environment needing 24/7 attention via staffing.

Looking from an optimistic perspective we can as well claim “offshoring has run it course” it time to see winds change its course albeit slowly.