This Business English News podcast examines the topic of offshoring jobs. “オフショアリング” means to move part of a company’s operations (usually supporting functions such as finance or HR) to another country – literally “off shore.” Another commonly used term related to this topic is “outsourcing” – this means to use a different company to handle some supporting tasks. The key difference is that outsourcing doesn’t necessarily mean the work is done in a different country.

The topic of offshoring, or outsourcing work overseas, is certainly a popular one these days, and many people in Western Europe and North America are quite concerned that this practice will lead to less job opportunities in their countries. However, our story details a report from a well know management consultancy that concludes these concerns may be exaggerated or “overblown.”

Download: Podcast MP3