How Obama Will Affect UK it Contractors

Obama

Watching Obama's inauguration yesterday I noticed one thing ' and that was that he never said the word's 'Yes, we can'.

I thought that this might be the highlight of his speech, that he would list the problems facing America and then finish with 'Can we fix them? Yes, we can!'

OK, he did nick his campaign slogan from Bob the Builder but it looks as if America is going to get Barack the Builder as he spends hundreds of billions on infrastructure projects.

In the UK

So, will any of this get as far as the pockets of IT Contractors in the UK?

Will Obama have any effect on us here?

His policies could affect us in several ways.

Firstly that huge package could and should start putting people back to work so that Americans can start spending again both at home and abroad.

Most of what has been proposed and enacted hasn't had a chance to work yet.

Also, companies in the construction sector in the UK can expect to benefit.

Digital Highway

However, Obama is not just spending money on roads and bridges.

He wants to spend a lot of it on the Digital Superhighway and other related tech projects.

He wants to spend money on technology to make a lot of things more efficient and greener.

Recovery

Basically if the USA doesn't recover then we won't.

The US is likely to be the first country to come out of the downturn and that could help drag us out too.

Gordon Brown looks like he is going to adopt similar policies to use IT and technology to increase efficiency and to create more jobs.

They reckon that every $1 pumped into the economy is worth $6 as the money circulates throughout the economy.

Trade Talks

We don't know yet what Obama's attitude will be to the current Doha round of world trade talks which had stalled but are now back on again.

Whilst agreement on that would be very good for world trade which is always good for economies, it wouldn't be very good for IT Contractors.

The reason for that is that the Developed World has offered greater freedom for the IT Contractors of the developing world to come here to look for work without a work permit and also suppliers of contractor IT workers can sell into the UK and EU market without a work permit.

That would be simply terrible both for the numbers of UK IT Contractors who work here and also for rates.

Too Tempting

Although Democrats tend to be more in support of keeping jobs and trade at home, the opportunity to help bring the world out of this downturn through more trade liberalisation will be too tempting if nothing else seems to be working.

One hopes Barack the Builder will save the world and the future prospects for UK IT Contractors but the way forward may not be so good for IT Contractors here.

For more details please visit this site : IT Contractor Articles | Umbrella Company

About the Author:

IT Contractor.com is a one-stop shop for IT Contractors with news and advice e.g. on IR35 and the IT Contract market. We have Umbrella Companies, IT Accountants, Mortgages, Pensions and Insurance and a Limited Company Set-up facility.