The global call centre industry project: A global benchmarking survey

This project is a large comparative international research project on the quality of jobs and labor market outcomes for low wage service workers in several countries. It focuses specifically on workers in the rapidly growing call center industry, where labor markets that were once local and protected now face global competition.

The dramatic growth of call centers in the last two decades is an important labor market phenomenon for low wage service workers. Whereas historically, service interactions were largely personalized and local, advanced information systems and rapidly declining costs of telecommunications have made possible the creation of geographically remote call centers in which transactions are mediated through telephone and computer technologies. This change represents a profound restructuring of labor markets for service and sales workers. Labor markets that were historically local and protected from trade are now exposed to national and even global competition.