Final answer:
In the 70s and 80s, companies began outsourcing services, including customer service, due to deregulation and cost-cutting measures. This led to job relocations from the US, impacting employment and was fueled by consumer demand for lower costs.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the 1970s and 1980s, major companies began to shift customer service problems as part of cost-cutting policies, signaling a shift in business practices towards outsourcing of services. This trend was facilitated by improvements in production technologies and a broader move towards deregulation, which began in the late 1970s and carried on into the 1990s. Deregulation significantly reduced government restrictions, allowing firms more freedom in entry, pricing, and production quantities in industries such as telecommunications, airlines, and banking.
The practice of outsourcing, initially applied to manufacturing, started to include customer service jobs, which were moved out of the United States. As a result of outsourcing and the emphasis on reducing costs, many skilled and white-collar jobs were relocated abroad, contributing to unemployment and underemployment within the U.S. This rise in outsourcing was driven by consumer demand for lower prices and the resulting corporate aim to reduce expenses, even at the cost of domestic employment.