Outsourcing, offshoring and the deconstruction of employment: New and old challenges

Abstract

This contribution analyses the interplay between outsourcing and the spatial organisation of work. An overview of different types of process that shift work across company boundaries and in space is provided; the different impacts on the nature of employment are discussed and the relevant strategic issues for workers, as well as the possible regulatory responses, are identified. Outsourcing and offshoring epitomise a variety of mechanisms through which the institutions that have been established to regulate the employment relationship can be evaded, leading to negative effects on pay and working conditions. In this context, technology plays an important role not only in helping to undermine the political basis of the employment relationship, but also in weakening its economic rationale.