Globalisation, Employment, and Wage Rate: What Does Literature Tell Us?

Abstract

This paper provides a literature review on the labor market outcome of international trade and outsourcing trends in developed countries, focusing on employment, wage rates, and wage dispersions. However, the literature offers ambiguous answers. International trade and outsourcing are examined not to be the determinant force of labour market movements. It tends to add to rising inequality and lowering the demand for low-skilled workers in Anglo-Saxon economies, while there is no clear-cut result for continental Europe. It induces skill-biased wage differentials and cross-sector change. Causality of globalisation effects on labour market and the inter-sectoral spill-over effects are underappreciated.globalisation, trade, offshore outsourcing, employment, wage rates, skill bias