Throughout past recessions, call centers picked up the slack and hired what amounted to millions of Americans to make and take calls. From 1990 onward, economic development agencies worldwide began to court contact centers to help them solve their job loss problems. Typically they recruited outsourcers from the TMC Top 50 Teleservices list as well as smaller, faster-growing companies.

Now 20 years later, the call center climate has changed dramatically. IP communications allows agents to be located anywhere -- even outside our borders. In addition, the Internet (e-mail, etc.) is a viable marketing alternative to speaking on the phone.

And let's not forget outbound telemarketing, a practice that employed millions, has been wiped out by do-not-call regulations and with it billions in commerce and millions of jobs.

Remember -- there will always be the need to speak over the phone when buying products -- regardless of whether these calls are going over IP or not.

The inbound side of the contact center industry continues to grow and although there are obviously layoffs in the contact center space, I have seen precious little hiring anywhere besides a recent announcement that IBM will hire 1,300 support center agents in Iowa.

In addition, General Electric plans on hiring 1,400 new people in Guatemala for a new call center in that country.

And economic development agencies are beginning to realize once again they need to focus on contact centers to get people employed rapidly. As opposed to manufacturing where there are substantial water and electric demands, any office building with sufficient broadband can serve as a contact center location.

In addition, you can get a call center up and running in a matter of months -- not 1+ years like other jobs/industries.

If you ask me, the best way to get hiring going in this country is to give tax breaks to...