Globalization Threatens One Quarter of Finnish Employment

We find that one quarter of Finnish employment is highly susceptible to offshoring in the next decade. That is, one in four jobs are easy to move abroad. The share is large. Offshorable workers are often highly educated. And innovators are particularly offshorable. In international comparison, our findings for Finland are similar to those in Sweden and in the United States. But the estimated threat of globalization through offshoring does not imply future mass unemployment. Jobs that are estimated to be easy to offshore will not necessarily move abroad. And even if they are, we may invent new jobs. The task content of current jobs may change, and the future mix of occupations may be different. But our findings do suggest that offshoring will change how we work.