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Decomposing the Automotive Supply Chain: Employment, Value Added and Occupational Structure

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  • Fana, Marta
  • Villani, Davide

Abstract

This paper studies the automotive supply chain in four European countries (Germany, France, UK and Italy) between 2000 and 2014. First, employing WIOD data processed via Trade-SCAN, we decompose the domestic and imported value added per unit of employment into a labour cost and functional income distribution component. We argue that the standard interpretation of the German success, based on the compression of labour costs, does not provide a satisfactory account of the different performances recorded among the four countries analysed. Second, we study the evolution of the occupational structure of the labour force involved in the supply chain building an indicator of occupational revealed comparative advantage. Our evidence suggest that the domestic segments of the supply chains are relatively specialised in providing employment at the top of the occupational distribution, while imported employment is relatively more specialised in manual occupations. Moreover, the imported component shows a process of relative upgrading and “middling” of the occupational structure.

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  • Fana, Marta & Villani, Davide, 2022. "Decomposing the Automotive Supply Chain: Employment, Value Added and Occupational Structure," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 407-419.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:62:y:2022:i:c:p:407-419
    DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2022.04.004
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    Cited by:

    1. Cresti, Lorenzo & Dosi, Giovanni & Fagiolo, Giorgio, 2023. "Technological interdependencies and employment changes in European industries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 41-57.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Input-Output Analysis; Automotive industry; Global Value Chains; Outsourcing; Employment Structure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R15 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Econometric and Input-Output Models; Other Methods
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • D33 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Factor Income Distribution

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