Offshoring to Eastern Europe and China: Displacement Effects, Cost Reductions and Labor Market Effects in Europe
Offshoring to Eastern Europe and China: Displacement Effects, Cost Reductions and Labor Market Effects in Europe
Offshoring affects European labour markets. The increase of offshoring to China and Eastern Europe has reduced wage growth for low qualified in Western Europe. While in some regions, it has led to an increase of unemployment, it has actually reduced unemployment in other regions. The reasons for this so far remain unclear. A potential explanation is that China’s and Eastern Europe’s entry to world trade implies growing competition and decreasing labour demand for some Western European regions, whereas other Western European regions might profit from lower offshoring costs resulting in higher labour demand. The project aims at investigating the role of these factors for the heterogeneous effects of offshoring in Western European regional labour markets. This can provide information on whether Offshoring leads to an increase or decrease of regional labour market disparities in Western Europe.