IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cje/issued/v52y2019i2p763-783.html

Exporting firms and the demand for skilled tasks

Author

Listed:
  • Irene Brambilla
  • Daniel Lederman
  • Guido Porto

Abstract

This paper explores the link between exports and the demand for skilled tasks. Using the Chilean Encuesta Nacional Industrial Anual (ENIA), an annual census of manufacturing firms, we first show that Chilean exporters utilize more skills than Chilean non-exporters. More importantly, we establish a distinct pattern of task differentiation among exporters both within skilled and unskilled tasks. Exporting firms demand the services of skilled specialized workers (engineers) as opposed to skilled administrative workers and managers. In addition, exporters demand less unskilled labour, especially blue-collar operatives. This suggests that exporters substitute skilled engineers for unskilled blue-collar workers to perform export-related tasks.

Suggested Citation

  • Irene Brambilla & Daniel Lederman & Guido Porto, 2019. "Exporting firms and the demand for skilled tasks," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(2), pages 763-783, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:cje:issued:v:52:y:2019:i:2:p:763-783
    DOI: 10.1111/caje.12382
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/caje.12382
    Download Restriction: access restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/caje.12382?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bastos, Paulo & Silva, Joana, 2010. "The quality of a firm's exports: Where you export to matters," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 99-111, November.
    2. Irene Brambilla & Andrés César & Guillermo Falcone & Guido Porto, 2025. "Organizational Hierarchies and Export Destinations," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 39(2), pages 229-259.
    3. Carlo Perroni & Davide Suverato, 2023. "Skills scarcity and export intensity," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(2), pages 719-757, May.
    4. Paulo Bastos & Joana Silva & Eric Verhoogen, 2018. "Export Destinations and Input Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(2), pages 353-392, February.
    5. Yang, Chih-Hai & Tsou, Meng-Wen, 2022. "Exports and the demand for skilled labor in China: Do foreign ownership and trade type matter?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    6. Francesco Guerra, 2024. "Export quality and wage premium," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 160(3), pages 843-871, August.
    7. García Muñoz, Teresa María & Milgram Baleix, Juliette & Odeh, Omar Odeh, 2020. "Inequality in Latin America: The role of the nature of trade and partners," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 14, pages 1-35.
    8. Chiappini, Raphaël & Jégourel, Yves, 2021. "“The buck stops with the executives”: Assessing the impact of workforce composition and cultural distance on French firms’ exports," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 45-57.
    9. Sossdorf, Fernando, 2022. "Winners take all (the most): The effects of market concentration on labor share and wage inequality," MPRA Paper 113642, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Feicheng Wang & Chris Milner & Juliane Scheffel, 2022. "Export destination and the skill premium: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing industries," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(2), pages 1057-1094, May.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cje:issued:v:52:y:2019:i:2:p:763-783. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Prof. Werner Antweiler (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ceaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.