IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/epo/papers/2016-03.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Working Paper: Domestic Outsourcing in the United States: A Research Agenda to Assess Trends and Effects on Job Quality

Author

Listed:
  • Annette Bernhardt
  • Rosemary Batt
  • Susan Houseman
  • Eileen Appelbaum

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to develop a comprehensive research agenda to analyze trends in domestic outsourcing in the U.S. — firms’ use of contractors and independent contractors — and its effects on job quality and inequality. In the process, we review definitions of outsourcing, the available scant empirical research, and limitations of existing data sources. We also summarize theories that attempt to explain why firms contract out for certain functions and assess their predictions about likely impacts on job quality. We then lay out in detail a major research initiative on domestic outsourcing, discussing the questions it should answer and providing a menu of research methodologies and potential data sources. Such a research investment will be a critical resource for policymakers and other stakeholders as they seek solutions to problems arising from the changing nature of work.

Suggested Citation

  • Annette Bernhardt & Rosemary Batt & Susan Houseman & Eileen Appelbaum, 2016. "Working Paper: Domestic Outsourcing in the United States: A Research Agenda to Assess Trends and Effects on Job Quality," CEPR Reports and Issue Briefs 2016-03, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
    • Handle: RePEc:epo:papers:2016-03
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://cepr.net/images/stories/reports/working-paper-domestic-outsourcing-2016-03.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George A. Akerlof & Janet L. Yellen, 1990. "The Fair Wage-Effort Hypothesis and Unemployment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(2), pages 255-283.
    2. Rosemary Batt & Hiroatsu Nohara, 2009. "How Institutions and Business Strategies Affect Wages: A Cross-National Study of Call Centers," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 62(4), pages 533-552, July.
    3. Matthew Dey & Susan N. Houseman & Anne Polivka, 2010. "What Do We Know about Contracting Out in the United States? Evidence from Household and Establishment Surveys," Book chapters authored by Upjohn Institute researchers, in: Katharine G. Abraham & James R. Spletzer & Michael J. Harper (ed.),Labor in the New Economy, pages 267-304, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    4. Giuseppe Berlingieri, 2013. "Outsourcing and the Rise in Services," CEP Discussion Papers dp1199, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    5. Deborah Goldschmidt & Johannes F. Schmieder, 2017. "The Rise of Domestic Outsourcing and the Evolution of the German Wage Structure," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(3), pages 1165-1217.
    6. Howard Gospel & Mari Sako, 2010. "The unbundling of corporate functions: the evolution of shared services and outsourcing in human resource management," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 19(5), pages 1367-1396, October.
    7. Carolyn J. Heinrich & Peter R. Mueser & Kenneth R. Troske, 2005. "Welfare to Temporary Work: Implications for Labor Market Outcomes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 154-173, February.
    8. Barth, Erling & Bryson, Alex & Davis, James C. & Freeman, Richard, 2014. "It’s where you work: increases in earnings dispersion across establishments and individuals in the US," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60604, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Arindrajit Dube & Ethan Kaplan, 2010. "Does Outsourcing Reduce Wages in the Low-Wage Service Occupations? Evidence from Janitors and Guards," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 63(2), pages 287-306, January.
    10. Jérôme Gautié & Schmitt John, 2010. "Low-Wage Work in the Wealthy World," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00464352, HAL.
    11. Locke, Richard M. & Qin, Fei & Brause, Alberto, 2007. "Does monitoring improve labor standards? Lessons from Nike," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 59405, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. David H. Autor & Susan N. Houseman, 2006. "Temporary Agency Employment: A Way Out of Poverty?," Book chapters authored by Upjohn Institute researchers, in: Rebecca M. Blank & Sheldon H. Danziger & Robert F. Schoeni (ed.),Working and Poor: How Economic and Policy Changes Are Affecting Low-Wage Workers, pages 312-337, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    13. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    14. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Mathijs De Vaan & Ron Boschma, 2013. "The dynamics of interfirm networks along the industry life cycle: The case of the global video game industry, 1987--2007," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(5), pages 741-765, September.
    15. Helper, Susan & MacDuffie, John Paul & Sabel, Charles, 2000. "Pragmatic Collaborations: Advancing Knowledge While Controlling Opportunism," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 9(3), pages 443-487, September.
    16. Susan Houseman & Machiko Osawa (ed.), 2003. "Nonstandard Work in Developed Economies: Causes and Consequences," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number nwde, November.
    17. George Erickcek & Susan Houseman & Arne Kalleberg, 2002. "The Effects of Temporary Services and Contracting Out on Low-Skilled Workers: Evidence from Auto Suppliers, Hospitals, and Public Schools," Upjohn Working Papers 03-90, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    18. Susan Helper & Mari Sako, 2010. "Management innovation in supply chain: appreciating Chandler in the twenty-first century," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 19(2), pages 399-429, April.
    19. Brian J. Hall & Jeffrey B. Liebman, 1998. "Are CEOs Really Paid Like Bureaucrats?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(3), pages 653-691.
    20. Bengt Holmstrom & Steven N. Kaplan, 2001. "Corporate Governance and Merger Activity in the United States: Making Sense of the 1980s and 1990s," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 121-144, Spring.
    21. David H. Autor, 2009. "Studies of Labor Market Intermediation," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number auto07-1.
    22. George A. Erickcek & Susan N. Houseman & Arne L. Kalleberg, 2003. "The Effects of Temporary Services and Contracting Out on Low-Skilled Workers: Evidence from Auto Suppliers, Hospitals, and Public Schools," Book chapters authored by Upjohn Institute researchers, in: Eileen Appelbaum & Annette Bernhardt & Richard J. Murnane (ed.),Low-Wage America: How Employers Are Reshaping Opportunity in the Workplace, pages 368-403, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    23. George P. Baker & Thomas N. Hubbard, 2003. "Make Versus Buy in Trucking: Asset Ownership, Job Design, and Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(3), pages 551-572, June.
    24. Jeffrey H Dyer & Wujin Chu, 2000. "The Determinants of Trust in Supplier-Automaker Relationships in the U.S., Japan and Korea," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 31(2), pages 259-285, June.
    25. -, 1986. "Agenda = Agenda," Series Históricas 8749, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    26. Rees, Albert, 1993. "The Role of Fairness in Wage Determination," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 11(1), pages 243-252, January.
    27. Alon Brav & Wei Jiang & Hyunseob Kim, 2015. "Editor's Choice The Real Effects of Hedge Fund Activism: Productivity, Asset Allocation, and Labor Outcomes," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(10), pages 2723-2769.
    28. Michael G. Jacobides & Sidney G. Winter, 2005. "The co‐evolution of capabilities and transaction costs: explaining the institutional structure of production," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(5), pages 395-413, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bergeaud, Antonin & Mazet-Sonilhac, Clément & Malgouyres, Clément & Signorelli, Sara, 2021. "Technological Change and Domestic Outsourcing," IZA Discussion Papers 14603, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Nicola Gagliardi & Benoît Mahy & François Rycx, 2019. "Does firms’ position in global value chains matter for workers’ wages?. An overview with a gender perspective," Reflets et perspectives de la vie économique, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(4), pages 55-62.
    3. Nicola Gagliardi & Benoît Mahy & François Rycx, 2021. "Upstreamness, Wages and Gender: Equal Benefits for All?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(1), pages 52-83, March.
    4. Alexandre Mas & Amanda Pallais, 2020. "Alternative Work Arrangements," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 12(1), pages 631-658, August.
    5. Christine A. Riordan & Alexander M. Kowalski, 2021. "From Bread and Roses to #MeToo: Multiplicity, Distance, and the Changing Dynamics of Conflict in IR Theory," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(3), pages 580-606, May.
    6. Delgado, Mercedes & Mills, Karen G., 2020. "The supply chain economy: A new industry categorization for understanding innovation in services," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(8).
    7. Eileen Appelbaum, 2017. "Domestic Outsourcing, Rent Seeking, and Increasing Inequality," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 49(4), pages 513-528, December.
    8. John Schmitt, 2017. "Comments on “Domestic Outsourcing, Rent Seeking, and Increasing Inequality†by Eileen Appelbaum," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 49(4), pages 529-533, December.
    9. Virginia Doellgast & Matthew Bidwell & Alexander J. S. Colvin, 2021. "New Directions in Employment Relations Theory: Understanding Fragmentation, Identity, and Legitimacy," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(3), pages 555-579, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bernhardt, Annette & Batt, Rosemary & Houseman, Susan & Appelbaum, Eileen, 2016. "Domestic Outsourcing in the U.S.: A Research Agenda to Assess Trends and Effects on Job Quality," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt2fm4m444, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    2. Annette Bernhardt & Rosemary L. Batt & Susan Houseman & Eileen Appelbaum, 2016. "Domestic Outsourcing in the United States: A Research Agenda to Assess Trends and Effects on Job Quality," Upjohn Working Papers 16-253, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    3. Deborah Goldschmidt & Johannes F. Schmieder, 2017. "The Rise of Domestic Outsourcing and the Evolution of the German Wage Structure," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(3), pages 1165-1217.
    4. Eileen Appelbaum, 2017. "Domestic Outsourcing, Rent Seeking, and Increasing Inequality," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 49(4), pages 513-528, December.
    5. James Spletzer & Elizabeth Weber Handwerker, 2015. "The Role of Establishments and the Concentration of Occupations in Wage Inequality," Working Papers id:7427, eSocialSciences.
    6. Jae Song & David J Price & Fatih Guvenen & Nicholas Bloom & Till von Wachter, 2019. "Firming Up Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(1), pages 1-50.
    7. Basu, Arnab K. & Chau, Nancy H. & Soundararajan, Vidhya, 2019. "Wage fairness in a subcontracted labor market," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 24-42.
    8. Phillip Leslie & Paul Oyer, 2008. "Managerial Incentives and Value Creation: Evidence from Private Equity," NBER Working Papers 14331, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Mary J. Benner & Todd Zenger, 2016. "The Lemons Problem in Markets for Strategy," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(2), pages 71-89, June.
    10. Sean O'Brady & Virginia Doellgast & David Blatter, 2024. "The high costs of outsourcing: Vendor errors, customer mistreatment, and well‐being in call centers," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(1), pages 80-103, January.
    11. Grund, Christian & Minten, Axel & Toporova, Nevena, 2017. "The Motivation of Temporary Agency Workers: An Empirical Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 11229, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Okudaira, Hiroko & Ohtake, Fumio & Kume, Koichi & Tsuru, Kotaro, 2013. "What does a temporary help service job offer? Empirical suggestions from a Japanese survey," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 37-68.
    13. David H. Autor & Susan N. Houseman & Sari Pekkala Kerr, 2017. "The Effect of Work First Job Placements on the Distribution of Earnings: An Instrumental Variable Quantile Regression Approach," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(1), pages 149-190.
    14. Jonas Hjort & Xuan Li & Heather Sarsons, 2020. "Across-Country Wage Compression in Multinationals," NBER Working Papers 26788, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Jonas Hjort & Xuan Li & Heather Sarsons, 2020. "Random-Coefficients Logit Demand Estimation with Zero-Valued Market Shares," Working Papers 2020-15, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    16. Alexandre Mas & Amanda Pallais, 2020. "Alternative Work Arrangements," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 12(1), pages 631-658, August.
    17. Dominique Guellec, 2020. "Digital Innovation and the Distribution of Income," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring and Accounting for Innovation in the Twenty-First Century, pages 323-370, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Bernhardt, Annette, 2014. "Labor Standards and the Reorganization of Work: Gaps in Data and Research," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt3hc6t3d5, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    19. Bas Scheer & Wiljan van den Berge & Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2022. "Alternative Work Arrangements and Worker Outcomes: Evidence from Payrolling," CPB Discussion Paper 435, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    20. Heinrich, Ralph P., 1999. "Complementarities in Corporate Governance - A Survey of the Literature with Special Emphasis on Japan," Kiel Working Papers 947, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L - Industrial Organization
    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • J - Labor and Demographic Economics
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:epo:papers:2016-03. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ceprdus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.