Automating the automators: de/up-skilling and re/off-shoring in globalized software work

Abstract Will the new wave of automation impact the distribution and quality of work in the Global North and South? I combine labor-process theory with skill-biased technological change framework and global value chain analysis to offer a global labor process framework that systematically unpacks the interaction between automation and offshoring in the capitalist labor process. Through in-depth interviews with seventy Indian and US employees in a multinational software services firm and systematic video and document analysis of the tools they use, the study demonstrates that, while there is some upskilling, most automation tools deskill workers, even in a high-skill sector. Moreover, these tools impact the global workforce unevenly. Most tools deskilled and displaced offshore workers, while a few upskilled and displaced offshore workers. I also discuss cases where automation made onshore work more offshorable by deskilling it, and cases where automation increased onshore workers’ productivity and induced reshoring.