Must-Know Outsourcing Statistics for 2025

Outsourcing has been a hot trend since 1989. Over the past three decades, it has become an integral part of business management on a global scale.

That doesn’t mean everyone approves. Opinions vary from highly negative to wildly positive.

However you feel about outsourcing, one thing is certain: The gig economy still has to recover from the economic downturn in the previous years, as do some of the biggest industries in the world.

Key Outsourcing Statistics for 2025 - Editor’s Choice

• 43% of tech companies will increase their outsourcing spending in 2025.
• The global outsourcing and shared services market is worth $1.09 trillion in 2025.
• There are 76.5 million freelance workers in the US in 2025.
• The global IT outsourcing market revenue will reach $591 billion in 2025
•  Almost half of companies that used AI as part of their outsourcing effort have seen improvements in efficiency in 2024.

The global outsorcing market is valued at $1.09 trillion in 2025.

(Mordor Intelligence)

The value of the outsourcing sector has been growing steadily, with the latest projections seeing an expected 5.6% CAGR in the next five years, reaching $1.48 trillion by 2030.

About 300,000 jobs get outsourced out of the US each year.

(Forbes)

Statistics like this one make it easy to understand why so many people view outsourcing negatively. Negative sentiments are especially strong when there is a big economic crisis, like the Great Recession of 2008, when 86% of Americans blamed outsourcing for exacerbating the crisis.

More than 66% of US companies with 50 or more employees outsource.

(Zippia)

The same report found that some 68% of large US consumer products now involve outsourcing in at least one department of their business organization.

Some 75% companies use external providers to leverage data and analytics. 

(Deloitte)

In recent years, businesses have increasingly been turning to third-party sources for detailed analytics and insight generation, with more than three quarters of all companies surveyed leveraging this sensitive data through outside partners.

Out of all these organizations, 94% are leveraging service providers to innovate the data by developing AI and machine learning technology, an indicator of the rapidly growing adoption of this cutting-edge tech. 

Data security is a top concern for 68% of outsourcing companies that are considering moving to cloud technology.

(Deloitte)

As cloud technology continues to disrupt the outsourcing industry, some of the main concerns that companies have are related to information security and compliance with the law.

However, trends point to an additional concern that has everything to do with performance: 45% of outsourcing businesses worry that a cloud-based service may not be stable or reliable enough. Some 35% of respondents identify a fear of losing intellectual property as their biggest concern.

More than 44% of chief intelligence officers say they are now more likely to use outsourcing suppliers than they were just five years ago.

(Prototype:IT)

The latest data shows that the IT sector is moving toward outsourced suppliers most quickly. In fact, about 64% of outsourced offshore technology functions have to do with software application development.

The same research has shown that 51% of technology executives outsource application and software maintenance, and 40% outsource their data centers.

71% of financial service executives outsource or offshore some of their services.

(Gartner)

Financial companies are among those that outsource the most. About 70% of retail and transportation firms do the same, while pharmaceutical companies currently hold the top spot, with roughly 82% of these organizations outsourcing some of their services.

80% of financial companies and institutions are implementing or considering implementing robotic process automation.

(Gartner)

The trend toward automation is accelerating, as statistics like this one show. Robotic process automation is often the first step a company can make toward digital labor, and most financial companies are already implementing it.

What’s more, 81% of financial companies are satisfied with their robots, meaning that continued growth is all but guaranteed. This trend is currently most visible in HR and invoice processing sectors, where bots are increasingly replacing people.

The global IT outsourcing market revenue is worth $591 billion in 2025.

(Statista)

IT outsourcing is projected to continue growing at a 8.28% CAGR until 2029, and is projected to reach $812.7 billion by that time.

More than 654,093 Californians have lost their jobs to China since 2001.

(Coalition For a Prosperous America)

Californian economy has suffered the most in the US when it comes to jobs lost to outsourcing, mainly because of Silicon Valley and the shrinking of the state’s apparel industry.

A quick look at jobs lost by industry illustrates why California, as the home of most US tech giants, suffered so much. Of 3.82 million jobs that the United States has lost to China since 2001 when the country joined the WTO, 2.89 million were in manufacturing. Out of all Californian jobs lost to China, 74% were in the manufacturing sector.

The financial and accounting business processing outsourcing market is worth $70.19 billion in 2025.

(Grand View Research)

The same data shows that this market is expected to grow at a 9.3% CAGR from 2025 to 2030.

The global outsourced customer experience market was estimated to be worth $82.23 billion in 2024.

(Global Information)

Customer service is among the most outsourced processes for large companies and financial organizations. Since most businesses believe that improving customer experience is a top priority, it’s not surprising that growth is projected to continue throughout 2025.

The value of the market is projected to increase to $114.29 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 4.2%.

The most commonly outsourced jobs in small businesses are accounting and IT.

(Deloitte)

Small businesses usually turn to outsourcing when it comes to accounting and IT because those tasks require proficiency and skills that they might not possess internally.

That’s why the data shows that 37% of all accounting and IT tasks get outsourced. Digital marketing tasks follow at 34%, with development and human resources at 28%.

83% of small businesses plan to maintain on increase their spending on outsourced services.

(Stealth Agents)

Most small businesses state that the main reason they wish to increase spending on outsourcing has to do with the ability to manage the scaling up or down quickly, as well as supplementing their current teams or filling in the skill gaps, along with the fact that hiring outside usually costs less than hiring in-house.

More than 70% of US tech companies are looking to move or have already moved their outsourcing needs to Latin America.

(Blue Coding)

The latest data shows that the trend is expected to continue to increase in 2025, as nearshore outsourcing to Latin America grows by 20%.

The research and development outsourcing services market is worth $9.54 billion in 2025.

(The Business Research Company)

The market is expected to grow at a 9.7% CAGR by 2029, reaching $13.95 billion that year.

The average spending per employee in the BPO market is $0.88k in 2025.

(Statista)

The business process outsourcing market is expected to grow 4.56% each year until 2029.

43% of IT companies plan to increase their outsourcing in 2025.

(PEI Group)

This sector continues to lead in terms of outsourcing needs, followed by cybersecurity companies, out of which 42% plan to incease the level of outsourcing.

The IT outsourcing industry in Europe is valued at $193.10 billion in 2025.

(Statista)

The European part of the industry is developing at a steady pace, and is expected to grow by 7.93% each year.

Some 49% of companies that leverage AI as part of their outsourced services have seen improvements in efficiency in 2024.

(Deloitte)

The report found that the increasing AI-outsourcing trend has a big impact on today's organizations, with more than 20% of them now implementing a digital workforce
strategy.

34% of businesses in 2024 claimed that cost reduction was the primary driver of outsourcing.

(Deloitte)

This figure has radically dropped compared to just four years earlier, when cost reduction was the primary driver for 70% of organizations.

In Conclusion

The statistics we’ve gathered show an obvious split between small businesses and large corporations as emerging technologies like artifical intelligence and robotic automation change the market even further.

While outsourcing is likely to continue growing, the functions that are outsourced and the companies that rely on outsourcing may change. Operations are generally moving in-house, while key sectors like software development and maintenance remain outsourced.