Just in case you haven’t seen this news segment from ABC World News a few weeks ago, it is worth a couple of minutes of your time.
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/jobs-call-centers-back-us-14243481
Underscoring this story are employment numbers that
Quarter Jobs Gained
Q1 ’10 1,643
Q2 ’10 649
Q3 ’10 3,929
Q4 ’10 9,695
Q1 ’11 1,740
Q2 ’11 11,787
It should be noted that industry employment has actually grown for the past nine quarters in a row. We think employment growth is a testament to the value of the customer service function regardless of economic conditions. In the worst of times, the customer service function can be a powerful weapon in the fight for customer retention and loyalty. In the best of times, the customer service function can be a significant contributor to sales and business growth efforts.
We foresee no reason why this growth will not continue in the future. Although there is no clear pattern apparent in the graph above, we still expect to see positive growth numbers in contact center employment for the remainder of 2011 and into 2012.