Offshoring and the Internationalization of Employment. A Challenge for a Fair Globalization?

Are job losses and the degradation of working conditions in the developed world due to globalization and the offshoring of jobs? Contrary to popular beliefs and fears, most economic analysis evaluating the long-term and global implications of internationalisation of employment does not support this view. Yet for workers who have been displaced, a positive overall global and long-term impact does not remove their immediate loss.

The proceedings of the third Annecy Symposium, which took place in April 2005, discuss this paradox: globalisation has usually enhanced the well being of countries that have participated and globally reduced poverty, but it looks more and more like a monster that devours jobs, because there a few mechanisms that compensate its losers. The book examines the trends in the internationalisation of employment, looks at losers and winners and proposes new policies of compensation. The latter are based on rights and international labour standards and on a new effort to build an effective employment adjustment system that accompanies globalisation and makes it fairer.