The impact of international outsourcing on labour market dynamics in Germany

Using an administrative data set containing daily information on individual workers' employment histories, we investigate how workers' labour market transitions are affected by international outsourcing. In order to do so, we estimate hazard rate models for match separations, as well as for worker flows from employment to another job, to unemployment, and to out of the labour force. Outsourcing is found to have no significant impact on job stability in the manufacturing sector, but it is associated with increased job stability in the service sector. Furthermore, especially in the service sector the effect of outsourcing varies across skill levels. An analysis of the different labour market flows shows that labour market transitions are not affected symmetrically by international outsourcing.