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We Can Work It Out - The Globalisation of ICT-enabled Services

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Listed author(s):
  • Desiree van Welsum
  • Xavier Reif

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between the share of employment potentially affected by offshoring and economic and structural factors, including trade in business services and foreign direct investment (FDI), using simple descriptive regressions for a panel of OECD economies between 1996 and 2003. It tests whether there are differences in the factors driving the shares of potentially offshorable "non-clerical" and clerical occupations in total employment. The results show a positive statistical association between the share of both "non-clerical" and clerical occupations potentially affected by offshoring and exports of business services, and a negative association with imports of business services. However, the results also show important differences between different types of occupations as they behave differently over time, and are affected differently by variables included in the model. In particular, net outward manufacturing FDI, ICT investment, and the relative size of the services sector all have a positive association with the share of potentially offshorable "non-clerical" occupations, but are negative with clerical occupations. Union density has a positive statistical association with clerical occupations but negative with "non-clerical" occupations. These results have important implications for policy, as they clearly suggest that different factors are driving the performance of different occupational groups.

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File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w12799.pdf
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 12799.

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Date of creation: Dec 2006
Publication status: published as 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 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12799
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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
  • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
  • F2 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business
  • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
  • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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  1. Angel de la Fuente & Rafael Doménech, 2006. "Human Capital in Growth Regressions: How Much Difference Does Data Quality Make?," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(1), pages 1-36, 03.
  2. Marin, Dalia, 2004. "'A Nation of Poets and Thinkers' - Less So with Eastern Enlargement? Austria and Germany," Discussion Papers in Economics 329, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
  3. Angel de la Fuente & Rafael Dom?ech, 2002. "Human capital in growth regressions: how much difference does data quality make? An update and further results," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 537.02, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
  4. Head, Keith & Ries, John, 2002. "Offshore production and skill upgrading by Japanese manufacturing firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 81-105, October.
  5. Julián Messina, 2005. "Institutions and Service Employment: A Panel Study for OECD Countries," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 19(2), pages 343-372, 06.
  6. Oecd, 2005. "Potential Offshoring of ICT-intensive Using Occupations," OECD Digital Economy Papers 91, OECD Publishing.
  7. J. Bradford Jensen & Lori G. Kletzer, 2005. "Tradable Services: Understanding the Scope and Impact of Services Outsourcing," Working Paper Series WP05-9, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
  8. Catherine L. Mann, 2004. "The US Current Account, New Economy Services, and Implications for Sustainability," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(2), pages 262-276, 05.
  9. Peter D. Ørberg Jensen & Jacob Funk Kirkegaard & Nicolai Søndergaard Laugesen, 2006. "Offshoring in Europe—Evidence of a Two-Way Street from Denmark," Working Paper Series WP06-3, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
  10. de la Fuente, Angel & Doménech, Rafael, 2002. "Educational Attainment in the OECD, 1960-95," CEPR Discussion Papers 3390, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  11. Nigel Pain & Desirée van Welsum, 2005. "International Production Relocation and Exports of Services," OECD Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2004(1), pages 67-94.
  12. Bardhan, Ashok Deo & Kroll, Cynthia, 2003. "The New Wave of Outsourcing," Fisher Center for Real Estate & Urban Economics, Research Reports qt02f8z392, Fisher Center for Real Estate & Urban Economics, UC Berkeley.
  13. Desirée Van Welsum, 2004. "In Search of ‘Offshoring’: Evidence from U.S. Imports of Services," Birkbeck Working Papers in Economics and Finance 0402, Birkbeck, Department of Economics, Mathematics & Statistics.
  14. Oecd, 2006. "The Share of Employment Potentially Affected by Offshoring: An Empirical Investigation," OECD Digital Economy Papers 107, OECD Publishing.
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Cited by:

  1. Charlie Karlsson & Gunther Maier & Michaela Trippl & Iulia Siedschlag & Gavin Murphy, 2010. "ICT and Regional Economic Dynamics: A Literature Review," JRC Working Papers JRC59920, Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
  2. Martin Falk & Fei Peng, 2013. "The increasing service intensity of European manufacturing," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(15-16), pages 1686-1706, December.
  3. Beretta, Silvio & Targetti Lenti, Renata, 2011. "“India in the Outsourcing/Offshoring Process: A Western Perspective” - L’India nel processo di outsourcing/offshoring: un punto di vista occidentale," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 64(3), pages 269-296.

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