Arizona's welfare calls sent out of U.S.

Arizona's welfare calls sent out of U.S.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0408calls-india08.html

Jon Kamman
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 8, 2004 12:00 AM


When low-income Arizonans report problems with their welfare payments or
food stamps, they call a toll-free number provided by the state.

A helpful person in India or Mexico answers.

Under a seven-year contract totaling $30 million, calls from Arizona go
either to an automated answer line, where most questions are resolved
without human intervention, or to call centers abroad, where low-wage labor
cuts the cost of providing live responses.

Gov. Janet Napolitano's office learned of the foreign staffing, known as
outsourcing, only several weeks ago and is researching ways to end the
practice now if possible and prohibit it in the future, co-chief of staff
Alan Stephens said Wednesday.