The Global Opportunity in Online Outsourcing
Online outsourcing (OO) has become a promising alternative to traditional employment in today’s digital era. It has transformed where, when, and how work is performed. For workers, this form of outsourcing has created new opportunities to access an...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/06/24702763/global-opportunity-online-outsourcing http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22284 |
| Summary: | Online outsourcing (OO) has become a
promising alternative to traditional employment in today’s
digital era. It has transformed where, when, and how work is
performed. For workers, this form of outsourcing has created
new opportunities to access and compete in global job
markets, from anywhere at any time, as long as they have
computer and Internet access. This study focuses on OO’s
potential as a new and innovative channel for socioeconomic
development for developing country governments and
development practitioners, particularly in terms of youth
employment, services exports, and participation in the
digital economy. OO firms report that the private sector is
currently driving most of the demand, but public sector
demand for OO is a potential source of future growth. In
order to understand the opportunity for developing
countries, this study estimated the current size of the
market and projected its growth, and profiled OO work
through a combination of desk research and structured
interviews with academics, online workers, firms, and
industry analysts to better understand OO’s potential impact
on human capital and employment. The study also conducted
focus group interviews with online workers in Kenya to
gather additional insight into the socioeconomic impacts of
OO, and carried out case studies in Kenya and Nigeria. |
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