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Europe is ‘not losing jobs’ in the information and communication technologies services sector (ICT) due to outsourcing, according to the Foundation’s European Monitoring Centre on Change (EMCC) in its new report Outsourcing of ICT and related services in the EU.
The report shows that employment in other business services is growing consistently across all the countries studied and, in some cases, such as the Czech Republic, this growth is quite spectacular. With the single exception of Denmark, any decline in computer and related employment was more than compensated, numerically speaking, by growth in another business services sector.
The strongest growth has taken place in precisely those countries where employment levels in these sectors are at their lowest. In other words, whilst the new Member States may be behind the rest of Europe in the proportion of their economies devoted to ICT services, they are catching up fast. The lowest growth rates are, by and large, in the most developed economies.
The reasons for this continuing growth in ICT service employment in Europe are several. First, it is a reflection of economic and linguistic diversity, giving a large range of alternative sites for offshore outsourcing within the EU. Second, it reflects the fact that the EU is a recipient of outsourced employment from other parts of the world, notably the US. Finally, it highlights the increasing propensity to outsource ICT and ICT-enabled functions, resulting in a shift to these sectors from other parts of the economy, including the public sector.
The report pieces together, impartially, the available evidence on outsourcing of ICT and related services in the European Union with the goal of informing the EU policymaking process. It draws on a body of market research and anecdotal data, in the absence of reliable data, statistics or research, which has been carried out over the past two decades on offshore information processing, trans-border teleworking, and new global division of labour in information services.
Three major trends have been identified:
• Outsourcing of ICT services is moving from an experimental to a consolidation phase
• There is continuing growth in the importance of intermediaries
• The extension of offshore outsourcing into increasingly skilled fields.
Source: www.eurofound.eu.int/newsroom/archive_pressrelease/pressrel_041213.htm
This article is powered by A-1 Technology, an offshore outsourcing company.
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