Offshoring in Europe—Evidence of a Two-Way Street from Denmark
Abstract
Based on a large Danish survey of companies in tradable goods and services sectors, this working paper presents the results of offshoring and its impact on jobs, adding new perspectives to the globalization debate. Globalization entails a cross-border flow of jobs, but contrary to the mainstream media portrayal of globalization, it is not a one-way but a two-way street. In 2002–05 more jobs were created as a result of offshoring of activities into eastern Denmark from companies outside Denmark (i.e., inshored to Denmark) than were eliminated due to offshoring from companies in the Danish region. Overall, the employment effects of both offshoring and inshoring were found to be limited to less than 1 percent of all jobs either lost to offshoring or gained via inshoring. For Denmark, the worries in purely numerical terms regarding the employment effects of globalization seem overly alarmist. However, the trends revealed in the study do pose challenges for low-skilled workers—the group most negatively affected—and for highly skilled specialists, who face pressure to constantly upgrade their skills. Policy implications can be drawn in view of our results to ensure that labor markets are able to meet the demands of globalizing firms.Download Info
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Paper provided by Peterson Institute for International Economics in its series Working Paper Series with number WP06-3.Length:
Date of creation: Jun 2006
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iie:wpaper:wp06-3
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Related research
Keywords: Labor Market; Offshoring; Offshore Outsourcing; High- and Low-Skilled Workers; Skill Bias; Denmark; Flexicurity;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
- J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
- L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2006-07-02 (All new papers)
- NEP-EEC-2006-07-02 (European Economics)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Peter Maskell & Torben Pedersen & Bent Petersen & Jens Dick-Nielsen, 2007.
"Learning Paths to Offshore Outsourcing: From Cost Reduction to Knowledge Seeking,"
Industry & Innovation,
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CEPR Discussion Papers
5408, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
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- Catherine L. Mann, 2003. "Globalization of IT Services and White Collar Jobs: The Next Wave of Productivity Growth," Policy Briefs PB03-11, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
- Jagdish Bhagwati & Arvind Panagariya & T. N. Srinivasan, 2004.
"The Muddles over Outsourcing,"
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0408004, EconWPA.
- Jagdish Bhagwati & Arvind Panagariya, 2004. "The Muddles over Outsourcing," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 93-114, Fall.
- Paul A. Samuelson, 2004. "Where Ricardo and Mill Rebut and Confirm Arguments of Mainstream Economists Supporting Globalization," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(3), pages 135-146, Summer.
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Desiree van Welsum & Xavier Reif, 2006.
"We Can Work It Out - The Globalisation of ICT-enabled Services,"
NBER Working Papers
12799, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Desireé van Welsum & Xavier Reif, 2009. "We Can Work It Out: The Globalization of ICT-Enabled Services," NBER Chapters, in: International Trade in Services and Intangibles in the Era of Globalization, pages 289-325 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Desiree Welsum & Xavier Reif, 2007. "We Can Work It Out - The Globalisation of ICT-enabled Services," Working Papers id:802, eSocialSciences.
- Martin Borowiecki & Bernhard Dachs & Doris Hanzl-Weiss & Steffen Kinkel & Johannes Pöschl & Magdolna Sass & Thomas Christian Schmall & Robert Stehrer & Andrea Szalavetz, 2012. "Global Value Chains and the EU Industry," wiiw Research Reports 383, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
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