The Pattern
We reviewed every company in our dataset. Here's what the data shows about who offshores, where the work goes, and what kind of jobs are sent overseas.
221
Companies reviewed
63
Offshore
158
Keep jobs local
29%
Offshoring rate
The pattern is simple: if a company has white-collar workers, uses IT, or runs call centres, it offshores. If it's primarily blue-collar, mining, construction, waste management, physical retail. It doesn't. The offshoring decision is about whether the work can be done remotely. For anything involving a computer, the answer is almost always yes.
By industry
| Industry | Offshore | Total | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Media | 3 | 4 | 75% |
| Banking | 6 | 9 | 67% |
| Insurance | 6 | 11 | 55% |
| Telecommunications | 3 | 6 | 50% |
| Engineering & Construction | 2 | 5 | 40% |
| Gaming | 2 | 5 | 40% |
| Financial Services | 5 | 13 | 38% |
| Technology | 11 | 30 | 37% |
| Energy & Utilities | 7 | 19 | 37% |
| Transport | 2 | 6 | 33% |
| Retail | 5 | 17 | 29% |
| Food & Beverage | 2 | 8 | 25% |
| Healthcare | 3 | 15 | 20% |
| Mining | 4 | 37 | 11% |
| Industrials | 1 | 16 | 6% |
| Real Estate | 1 | 20 | 5% |
Banking, telecommunications, and insurance have the highest offshoring rates. Industrials and mining are the lowest.
Where the work goes
India
69 companies send work here
48,239+
workers
Philippines
65 companies send work here
12,171+
workers
Vietnam
7 companies send work here
2,204+
workers
China
6 companies send work here
1,528+
workers
South Africa
3 companies send work here
Malaysia
3 companies send work here
700+
workers
India and the Philippines account for the vast majority of offshored work. India dominates in IT and engineering. The Philippines dominates in call centres and BPO (business process outsourcing. Back-office work like data entry, accounts, and customer service run by third-party vendors).
What kind of work is offshored
41
companies
Back Office
Finance, HR, procurement, administration
35
companies
Engineering / IT
Software, data, analytics, infrastructure
29
companies
Call Centres
Customer service, support, sales
Companies are not just offshoring low-skill work. Engineering and IT roles are sent overseas at the same rate as call centres.
The bottom line
One in three companies in our dataset offshores. The work goes overwhelmingly to India and the Philippines. It's not just call centres, engineering, IT, and back-office functions are offshored at similar rates. The companies that don't offshore tend to be those where the work physically can't leave Australia: miners, construction firms, retailers with physical stores.
Based on review of 221 companies including modern slavery statements, annual reports, news articles, and public filings. Offshore headcount figures are confirmed minimums.