California has an outsourcing problem -- but 60 percent of the jobs it loses go to other states, not to India and other offshore magnets. That’s the word from David Zuercher, a veteran international banker with San Francisco’s Wells Fargo and, since May, chairman of the Golden State’s leading trade lobby, the California Council for International Trade. “The most significant outsourcing doesn’t occur overseas,” asserts Zuercher, citing a recent study by management consulting firm Bain & Co. showing that Texas imports more jobs from California than do China and India combined.
Zuercher, 58, says he isn’t trying to downplay the offshoring threat, just put it in perspective. The trade council opposes a handful of protectionist bills wending their way through the State Assembly. Although it’s unlikely that any of the proposals will pass, such measures would hit California harder than other states. Almost one third of California’s $1.4 trillion economy -- which would rank seventh in the world if the state were a country -- relates to trade. And that’s Zuercher’s business: The 34-year Wells Fargo veteran heads the bank’s international and insurance services group; he serves as chairman of Wells Fargo HSBC Trade Bank (a joint venture with London’s HSBC Holdings) and of Acordia, a Wells-owned property and casualty insurance brokerage. Now that he’s wearing a lobbyist’s hat, Zuercher could probably use some more office help -- but he’s in no position to outsource.
