Global Supply Chains – Jobs shrink ILO finds

Global supply chains (GSCs)* developed at a fast rate over the last two decades and the number of jobs associated with them grew rapidly from the late 1990s until the financial crisis, reaching almost 500 million by 2007. But after a sharp drop in 2009, GSC-related jobs have only recovered modestly and their share of total employment in emerging economies has continued to decline, according to the ILO’s World Employment and Social Outlook 2015 .

The flagship report of the International Labour Organization looks at a sample of 40 countries with available data and estimates that GSC-related jobs increased from 296 million in 1995 to 492 million in 2007, and then dropped to 453 million by 2013.

“In some cases, previously outsourced activities were brought back to the country of origin of the lead enterprise,” said Raymond Torres, Director of the ILO Research Department and lead author of the report. “But there are other root causes behind this slowdown.” Sluggish global growth and weak aggregate demand has continued to weigh on trade, which is growing much more slowly than in the two previous decades.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  World Employment and Social Outlook 2015: Following decades of rapid increase, global supply chain jobs shrink.