There are as of now no reliable statistical indicators of the extent or nature of global outsourcing. It is not possible, either through the trade statistics or the EU occupational and employment statistics, to track statistics of imports and exports of business services to be able to identify with any accuracy which components of these services represent jobs. Hence, for evidence we can only look at the results of market research conducted with one-off surveys and case studies. Estimates of the impact of offshore outsourcing on Europe are vague, especially in relation to outsourcing to smaller Asian countries and eastern European states. Almost all sources agree that the outsourcing market in Europe is booming.

The survey conducted in 2004 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants stated that the service offshoring strategies of a representative sample of the top 500 European companies. The Rolang Berger consultancy in a survey found 61 percent of UK companies outsourcing compared with only 15 percent of their German counterparts. It is also been proved that more than 8% of companies with experience in offshoring are satisfied with the results, reporting cost savings in the range of 20 percent to 40 percent. All types of services from front office to back office functions are considered for offshoring; even data entry projects are outsourced. IT support is involved in some 60 percent of all current or planned offshoring projects of the European companies interviewed.

Forrester Research has estimated UK to account for three-quarters of all European offshore outsourcing in the next five years’ time and that software development would be the main service provided. Another Forrester Research report stated that offshore service spending in Western Europe would grow from EUR 1.1 billion in 2004 to EUR 3.6 billion in 2009, with the UK accounting for 76 percent of that amount. Other countries like France and Germany are also increasingly outsourcing to the Czech Republic, Russia and Tunisia (Peynot, 2004 and Parker, 2004).