Page designers are being recruited in New Delhi for as little as £1,500 a year

The outsourcing of production work by newspaper companies has become increasingly common over the last decade. It’s part of the cost-cutting culture that arrived with the downturn in profits.

Journalists, understandably, don’t like it. After all, their jobs have vanished. Many believe the quality of work has suffered, although it has to be said that such complaints have generally quietened.

But some outsourcing continues to remain controversial, as the following case - as highlighted by shocked Scottish journalists - illustrates.

Earlier this month, HoldTheFrontPage reported that 12 jobs at Scottish Provincial Press (SPP), in pre-press and design, were to be outsourced to a company in India, Express KCS.

The Unite union said workers in Inverness, Wick and Golspie would lose their jobs by the end of the month and a Unite officer, Willie Wallace, was quoted as saying:

“It seems strange that they’re doing this to save money but these are jobs that are going in the Highlands that are hard to come by. A lot of these people have been there for 25 years. They won’t get similar work at all in that area.”

What Unite didn’t realise is just how much SPP will save by switching the jobs to India. According to the advert on an Indian jobs website, the replacement layout artists and graphic designers are being hired for £1,500 to £2,500 a year.

They will be expected to have university degrees, prior work experience and computer skills and will need to fulfil a long list of responsibilities to obtain the jobs.

They will work in Gurgaon, a financial and industrial city near New Delhi that boasts the third highest per capita income in India.

According to the Observer’s former correspondent in India, Gethin Chamberlain, the salaries on offer are barely the legal minimum for Delhi.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/jul/27/journalists-outraged-by-newspaper-outsourcing-pay-rates-in-india