Workplaces are being relocated in search for employees – outsourcing and off-shoring For the purpose of this speech, a simplified definition may be adopted, under which outsourcing means relocating orders, services, production, employment or, in broader terms, a business process to another company (irrespective of its location), whereas off-shoring means relocating a business process abroad (irrespective whether to another company, or within the same enterprise). 9 There are, however, not too many hard data which would allow for an assessment of the scale of outsourcing/off-shoring. Until now, there have been only estimates and fragmentary research results available on this subject, limited to some countries only. However, the data on global trade in goods and services and foreign investment proves the growing scale of this phenomenon. Over the past 15 years, there were significant changes in the share of particular regions in the global trade, with the decline of the UE share accompanied by increasing shares of the developing countries, including Asian countries. In global terms, foreign trade as percentage of the GDP increased from the average 19% of the GDP in the period from 1980 to 1989, to 25% between 2000 and 2004. 9  6  Where off-shoring takes place within the same company, the English name captive o ff -s h o ri ng is used. BIS Review 64/2006  Table 3. Shares of individual regions in global trade.
According to a simulation by the World Bank, if the number of immigrants in wealthy countries keeps growing by 2025 at a pace slightly lower than the average over the past three decades (which, being a very prudent assumption, means that over 14 million people will move from the developing to the developed countries, and even more taking into consideration their family members), the global income will increase by 0.6%, of which by 1.8% in the developing countries and by 0.4% in wealthy countries. Migration should also be analysed by central banks, as it may influence relative price developments and the general level of prices. According to estimates by the World Bank, migration causes a slight decline in the general level of prices in the developed countries, whereas the decline is larger in services (such as health services, services in the construction industry, and leisure), and the largest – in the economy sector for which no data is typically available, i.e. the domestic help (babysitting, cleaning, etc.). As opposed to other world regions, the flow of persons across the countries of the EU has been stable. Annual net migration to the EU15 has remained at a level below 5 persons per 1000 inhabitants over the past 40 years. Ca. 9% of the UE population was born in countries other than those in which they currently live, whereas in the US this figure stood at 12% and in Canada and Australia at 20%.