Offshoring and employment in the developing world: business process outsourcing in the Philippines

Offshoring of services has enjoyed great popularity in the last few years with the emergence of advanced information and communications technologies allowing the transmission of tasks and information. Developing countries have become large producers of services destined for developed countries. In order to demonstrate the impact of offshoring on an economy and on the labour market, the Philippines will be used as a case study. The services offshored to the Philippines are mostly bundled in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector in the Philippines. This study will analyze the effects the BPO sector has had on the Philippines and its labour market and what employment strategies BPO companies have pursued. Was the impact significant for the country's labour market in quantitative and qualitative terms (in particular skills development)? Has this specialization on the BPO sector contributed to the positive development of Philippines' labour market or is the country stuck in a bad specialization?

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