Mubasher: The US Congress introduced a legislation that allows customers to ask about the call centre agents’ locations and request to transfer calls to a service based in the US.

The bill, which was proposed by democrat senator Sherrod Brown, suggests giving preference in federal contracts to companies that do not outsource their call centre services.

This legislation, which Brown believes would protect American call centre jobs, would also threaten offshore ones, particularly those in India and the Middle East.

"Jobs at call centres are some of the most vulnerable to offshoring. Too many companies have packed up their call centers in Ohio and across the country, and moved to India or Mexico," The Washington Post reported, citing the senator as saying.

US firms have been reducing expenses by outsourcing services, particularly call centre services, to countries like India, the Philippines, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, China, and Mexico.

Between 2006 and 2014, the US lost around 200,000 call centre jobs, Brown said, citing data by the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Most Americans want to support American jobs by buying American whenever they can and that includes the customer service they get from call centres,” he added.