Most EU companies that moved business activities abroad between 2021 and 2023 chose other countries within the European Union.
A total of 72.8% of EU enterprises engaging in international sourcing — relocating parts of their operations overseas — moved these business functions to another EU country during the three-year period, Eurostat revealed on Friday.
Beyond the EU, India (18.6%) and the United Kingdom (17.1%) were the main destinations for outsourced business activities.
The main reasons for international sourcing were reducing labour costs (cited by 34.1% of enterprises that moved operations), cutting other costs (27.8%), or focusing on their main areas of business (20.3%).
Almost half of all companies that sourced abroad relocated administrative and management functions (47.4%), while 28.7% moved information and communication technology (ICT) and related services.
ICT services include areas like software development and IT support.
Job losses and gains
From 2021 to 2023, international sourcing led to a net loss of 99,170 jobs (0.14% of total jobs) among enterprises with 50 or more employees in 22 EU countries, according to Eurostat’s survey.
A total of 152,023 jobs were lost due to sourcing abroad, affected most in the production of goods and materials (53,577 jobs lost, or 0.30% of all production roles) and in administrative and management positions (33,818 jobs lost, or 0.33%).
At the same time, EU companies reported 52,853 new jobs created in the region because of international sourcing.
Some sectors also saw notable job creation. Administrative and management functions gained 12,762 jobs (0.07%), and 12,493 jobs were added to production (0.13%).
Information and communication technology services saw the highest share of roles lost — 0.46% of those jobs, or 15,308 posts — but also had significant gains, with 6,869 new jobs created (0.21%). Research and development experienced similar trends, losing 0.37% of jobs (4,858) while gaining 0.24% (3,135) in new roles.
The findings are based on the Global Value Chains survey, which Eurostat conducted across 22 EU countries and Norway during 2024, covering company activities and changes between 2021 and 2023.
