The Philippines and India still led in job creation in the offshore regions for business process outsourcing, specifically call centers.
According to Dallas TX-based outfit Site Selection Group, the Philippines reported 29 projects creating 31,351 jobs. India, meanwhile, had 20 projects with 18,200 new jobs.
Compared to nearshore destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean, they were able to create 25,055 jobs in 34 projects.
Overall, the US led with 153 projects covering 49,092 jobs, due to strong economic conditions and corporate reshoring initiatives.
Since 2018, both the Philippines and India have dominate offshore region although growth has been slowing.
Among the factors were political instability, government legislation, currency fluctuations, wage inflation, unionization, automation, and emerging industries like online gaming.
For the Philippines, it “has successfully attracted higher-end non-voice operations such as software development, shared service centers and other knowledge processing operations,” Site Selection Group revealed in its Global Call Center Location Trend Report 2019.
“The growth of these back-office operations in the Philippines is creating new challenges for companies trying to attract the best talent, reduce employee attrition and control labor costs, not to mention the recent impact of changes to the PEZA economic incentive program and the Chinese sports betting companies,” it added.
Still, the Philippines remain the largest offshore and site selection destination for BPOs in general and call centers in particular.
India meanwhile pushed for more expansion due to lower cost and government marketing efforts to create jobs in rural areas.
According to Site Selection Group, the study analyzed 310 new and expanding call center projects that created 145,847 jobs. Moreover, it analyzed 107 call center projects involving 21,966 lost jobs at facilities downsizing or closing call center facilities.
Meanwhile, US onshore call center growth remained stable, creating almost 50,000 jobs.
“As in years past, many companies reshored operations from the Philippines, India and other offshore markets as they sought to improve quality levels despite higher costs,” Site Selection Group added.
Nevertheless, it said the industry continues to grow “despite headwinds such as artificial intelligence and labor market tightness.”
It added: “As a result, it has become even more challenging to find the optimal location to expand.”
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