California Jobs Sent Overseas

Jobs may be California's fastest-growing export. The Contra Costa Times reports that, thanks to high-speed linkups, many Bay Area companies are contracting with high-tech firms in India to handle office functions once performed by their own staffs. The exported jobs include customer service, telemarketing, bill payment, HR, accounting, 401k calculations and graphic design. Unhappy with the affront to the state's workforce, the Communications Workers of America union office in Sacramento is backing legislation dubbed "California Jobs for Californians." A company operating in California "ought to be employing Californians, not Missourians and Indians," Jim Gordon, a spokesperson for CWA, told the Times. Ironically, these developments follow a report on 60 Minutes chronicling the large number of jobs and companies India's high-tech brain trust has helped create in America.

On the Job Front

CALIFORNIA - Kohl's Department Stores took a giant step into the state last Friday, opening 28 stores in the LA area. Next year, Kohl's intends to open stores in Sacramento, Fresno and San Diego . . . Liz Claiborne Inc will close 22 stores. The firm plans to focus on its Lucky Brand outlets.

DAVIS - Sagres Discovery, a biotech firm fighting cancer, has received backing from a German pharmaceutical company. The funding will help the firm expand its scientific staff from 39 to 45 by year's end . . . Cost Plus is coming to town. The retail import chain will move into a site being vacated by State Market, a family-owned food store. Cost Plus will open in the fall, employing 30 to 50 workers.

DIXON - San Mateo's Bay Meadows racetrack may hoof it out of the Bay Area to a proposed $150-million track and horse training complex along I-80 as early as 2007.

MILPITAS - Having to knuckle down in the economic slowdown, Palm Inc, creators of the PDA craze, has fingered 300 staffers for dismissal, about 19 percent of its workforce . . . Adeptec Inc, maker of data storage devices, is deleting 165 jobs, an 11-percent cut.

PALO ALTO - Faced with reduced stock endowment revenues, Stanford University will freeze salaries and trim some non-faculty positions.

PLACERVILLE - Home Depot hopes to open a local outlet in 16 months. The home improvement warehouse, which has yet to hammer out a final approval, would employ 150 workers.

REDWOOD CITY - The lackluster economy is prompting Genelabs Technologies to shrink its approximately 100-member staff by 20 employees.

SACRAMENTO - Construction should begin soon on shopping centers in three neighboring communities: Elk Grove, Roseville and North Natomas. Southern California developer Donahue Schriber Realty Group Inc says the centers should open in about a year.

SANTA CLARA - The county health system must cut its payroll by at least $33 million - and perhaps $40 million on top of that, depending upon state budget decisions.

SAN FRANCISCO - It's been tough times for local media jobs. The San Francisco Examiner laid off most of its editorial staff, about 40 people, and canceled home delivery as it switches to free news racks. Meanwhile, the Red Herring, a glossy monthly magazine that covered high-tech business for a decade, pulled the plug on its publication, idling 31. Backers say they hope to resurrect the periodical when the tech sector recovers . . . 90 local workers for Japanese game maker Sega Corp have been let go, a 20-percent cut. Reports have circulated that Sega may win backing from Microsoft or another American game maker, Electronic Arts.