Just last Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Delta Air Lines announced that it has stopped using India-based call centers to handle sales and reservations. Delta is just the latest U.S. company to decide that the benefits of outsourcing work offshore is outweighed by the backlash from customers. Last month, Chrysler  announced it was moving its customer-service center--that was once in India--back home, too.

There is plenty of talk in tech circles that it may be time to pull back from offshore outsourcing and move jobs back to the United States. The reason: Some firms are not saving that much money from heading overseas and they are facing new pressure to stay at home.

The $787 billion economic recovery plan, signed into law by President Obama in February, prohibits stimulus money to companies taking their work offshore, making it harder for American companies to take stimulus money and head overseas. And with the unemployment rate now exceeding 8.5 percent nationally, there is even more pressure to keep jobs in the United States.

What does this mean for the tech company trying to make ends meet and gain a competitive edge by sending work abroad? It may be time to take advantage of the out-of-work talent pool, and rethink the old business model. There are many skilled tech professionals on the unemployment lines, and probably quite a few willing to work for a lot less than they were a year ago. These workers have a lot to offer, and it could benefit those individuals, the nation, and American businesses to put them to work. - Judi