Offshoring and Employment
Trends and Impacts

Offshoring—the transfer of an industrial activity abroad—has become a fact of life for business. But it is also perceived as a threat by a large segment of the general public. And much of the public concern centers on employment, especially the potential loss of domestic jobs. This groundbreaking report provides new insights into the phenomenon of offshoring. First, the report defines offshoring in detail, allowing readers to see the many ways that industrial activity—both in manufacturing and in services—can be transferred abroad. The report then describes the wide-ranging effects that offshoring can have on domestic employment—the positive, as well as the negative. Finally, this ground-breaking report outlines the public policy implications of offshoring. It suggests ways to limit the downside of offshoring while helping to build trust between the various stakeholders working to address this issue.
- Click to access:
-
Click to download PDF - 2.39MBPDF
-
Click to Read online and shareREAD
Preliminary results
This chapter presents some preliminary results on the affect of offshoring on employment for a limited number of OECD countries, with in-depth looks at the United States and France. The results are based on sector-specific industrial data, detailing the extent of offshoring within various industrial sectors, the imported share of offshoring production for each of the sectors, as well as employment changes. The impact of outsourcing abroad on employment is measured in manufacturing as well as services, and the positive effects of offshoring on domestic economies are also discussed.
- Click to access:
-
Click to download PDF - 1.57MBPDF
-
Click to Read online and shareREAD