Offshoring, Multinationals and Labour Market: a Review of the Empirical Literature

C-Tier
Journal: Journal of Economic Surveys
Year: 2009
Volume: 23
Issue: 2
Pages: 197-249

Score contribution per author:

1.009 = (α=2.02 / 1 authors) × 0.5x C-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Abstract This paper reviews the empirical literature on the effects of offshoring and foreign activities of multinational enterprises on developed countries' labour markets. Results suggest that material offshoring worsens wage inequality between skilled and unskilled workers; it also seems to make employment more volatile, by raising the elasticity of labour demand and the risk of job losses. Service offshoring exerts at most small negative effects on total employment, and changes the composition of the workforce in favour of high‐skilled white‐collar employees. Multinationals tend to substitute domestic and foreign labour in response to changes in relative wages across countries; substitutability is weak, however, and mainly driven by horizontal, market‐seeking foreign direct investments.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:bla:jecsur:v:23:y:2009:i:2:p:197-249
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-25