Northeastern Pennsylvania -
According to statistics from the state Department of Labor and Industry, there has been a 23 percent reduction in call-center employment in Pennsylvania since 2001.
While statewide wages are on the rise for call-center employees - an average weekly wage of $729 in 2017, compared to $369 in 2001 - average employment throughout the state is down from 19,835 in 2001 to 15,270 in 2017.
The number of call-center establishments in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre region has remained stable; average weekly wages have risen from $321 in 2001 to $787 in 2017; and there has been a 34 percent increase in employment since 2001 - the average call-center employment in the region has dropped from 2,032 in 2016 to 1,760 in 2017, mirroring the statewide dip.
“There's going to be a myriad of factors, as far as loss goes,” said Ryan Horner, state Department of Labor and Industry statistical manager for workforce development.
One reason is automation, particularly in more recent years, Horner said. The other is outsourcing jobs to other countries, which negatively influences the job market.
“Outsourcing is a factor for this industry in particular,” Horner said. “We've had lots of reports of that over the last 20 years.”
Call centers represent about 3 percent of the country's workforce, yet the number of customer service/contact center jobs has declined by 500,000 in the last four years nationwide, according to the Communications Workers of America's website.
The CWA represents 700,000 workers across the country.
“Offshoring has been a huge issue for call-center workers,” Beth Allen, communications director for CWA, said. “It is relatively easy for companies to move call-center jobs from place to place, always seeking to pay lower wages.”
“Call-center jobs have been moved to the Philippines, India, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Honduras and other developing nations,” the CWA wrote in a report called “Why Shipping Call Center Jobs Overseas Hurts Us Back Home.”
In fact, Scranton native and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey wrote to Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan in January 2018 for this very reason.
“I write to request you reverse course on the outsourcing of 460 jobs from Pennsylvania,” Casey said in the letter.
Casey called on the company to rehire American call-center workers that the company laid off to grow its call-center operations in the Philippines, including 460 jobs from its call center in Bethlehem - despite gaining about $3.7 billion from the reduced corporate tax rate in a law signed by President Donald Trump in 2017, according to the CWA.
However, companies in the region, like Sundance, as well as Maximus and Cigna, spoke of the importance of keeping those jobs not only in the country, but in our region specifically.
Cigna, a health service organization, employs more than 1,000 people in the region and offers a minimum wage of $16 an hour, according to Ed LaClair, the vice president of service operations.
“We put a lot of money back in the community here,” LaClair said.
It's important to keep call-center and customer service jobs in the region because of the resources here, LaClair said.
“We have a great college and university system here, so access to educated people is fantastic,” he said.
But, for LaClair, the region's resources aren't the only factor in keeping these jobs here.
“The passion people here have for the community - we have folks that really want to help people,” LaClair said.
Lisa Miles of Maximus, which has more than 500 employees in Northeast Pennsylvania, shared similar sentiments.
“We find that the community itself is a great place,” said Miles, senior vice president of investor relations and corporate communications for Maximus.
“It's a very rich pool of employees,” she said. “I think our employees are passionate and dedicated and really committed to the cause. They really enjoy helping people.”
