Call Centers Go From Booming to Begging

India's call centers are the classic symbol of how outsourcing has helped the world's second-largest country to boom, but Time reports that the sector is suffering as India grows richer and better educated. College graduates who several years ago aspired to work in a call center now say that the bleary-eyed profession isn't worth the trouble.

As India's economy has matured, better job opportunities—not to mention working hours that aren't synchronized with the US—have shaved off interest in call centers, and the sector is being forced to recruit. These days, says one college student, "if you work at a call center today people will think you don't have anything else to do or were a bad student." (More India stories.)