The COVID-19 pandemic fueled a remote work boom as well as increases in innovation and investments in digital technologies. But could these developments backfire and lead to U.S. companies moving white-collar jobs overseas where labor costs are lower?
In this Perspective, the authors review the potential benefits and drawbacks of online outsourcing, including microwork and freelancing, with special reference to its potential for youth employment and poverty reduction in Indonesia.
As the nature of work evolves and the relationships between workers and firms become increasingly complex, it's possible that disentangling worker protections from worker classification rules will become a policy option worth further exploration.
The way forward is not for the government to say no to outsourcing of sensitive functions, but to think carefully about which efficiency savings are real and which are, instead, a result of introducing a far greater degree of risk, writes James Gilbert.
To design a new naval submarine domestically, Australia's industry and Government will need about 1,000 skilled draftsmen and engineers. Cultivating this workforce could take 15-20 years; partnering with foreign designers could expedite the process.
What factors affect the competitiveness of civil service employees in the cost-comparison process used to evaluate outsourcing possibilities; and what are the impacts of past and future outsourcings on civil service employees?
Develop recommendations for improving the productivity of the civil service workforce (making it more competitive in outsourcing cost-comparison studies) and making the cost-comparison process fairer to government employees.
Considered whether the Department of Defense (DoD) should contract out — outsource — support services that DoD now produces in-house and, if so, (1) which services DoD should outsource and (2) what DoD can do to make outsourcing more cost-effective.