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Offshoring and the Skill Structure of Labour Demand in Belgium

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  • Bart Hertveldt
  • Bernhard Michel

Abstract

A major concern regarding the consequences of offshoring is the worsening of the labour market position of low-skilled workers. This paper addresses this issue by providing evidence on the impact of offshoring on the skill structure of manufacturing employment in Belgium between 1995 and 2007. Offshoring is found to significantly lower the employment share of low-skilled workers. Its contribution to the fall in the employment share of low-skilled workers amounts to 35 %. This is mainly driven by offshoring to Central and Eastern European countries. While most of the previous papers on this subject focus on materials offshoring, we show that offshoring of business services also contributes significantly to the fall in the low-skilled employment share. As a complement to the existing literature, we compare the widely used current price measure of offshoring with a constant price measure that is based on a deflation with separate price indices for domestic output and imports. This reveals that the former underestimate the extent of offshoring and its impact on low-skilled employment. Finally, we also find that the impact of offshoring on low-skilled employment is significantly smaller in industries with a higher ICT capital intensity. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Bart Hertveldt & Bernhard Michel, 2013. "Offshoring and the Skill Structure of Labour Demand in Belgium," De Economist, Springer, vol. 161(4), pages 399-420, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:decono:v:161:y:2013:i:4:p:399-420
    DOI: 10.1007/s10645-013-9218-0
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    2. François Rycx & Yves Saks & Ilan Tojerow, 2015. "Does Education Raise Productivity and Wages Equally? The Moderating Roles of Age, Gender and Industry," Working Paper Research 281, National Bank of Belgium.
    3. Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz & Aleksandra Parteka, 2018. "The effects of offshoring to low-wage countries on domestic wages: a worldwide industrial analysis," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 45(1), pages 129-163, February.
    4. Mr. Igor Lebrun & Mrs. Esther Perez Ruiz, 2014. "Demand Patterns in France, Germany, and Belgium: Can We Explain the Differences?," IMF Working Papers 2014/165, International Monetary Fund.
    5. Igor Lebrun & Esther Pérez Ruiz, 2015. "Demand patterns in France, Germany and Belgium: Can We Explain the Differences?," EcoMod2015 8314, EcoMod.
    6. Marijn Verschelde & Michel Dumont & Bruno Merlevede & Glenn Rayp, 2014. "A constrained nonparametric regression analysis of factor-biased technical change and TFP growth at the firm level," Working Paper Research 266, National Bank of Belgium.
    7. Ďurčová, Júlia & Mirdala, Rajmund, 2017. "Tracing Value Added and Job Creation across Industries in the Slovak Republic," MPRA Paper 82862, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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