IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/inecon/v72y2007i1p22-51.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Employment, skill structure and international trade: Firm-level evidence for France

Author

Listed:
  • Biscourp, Pierre
  • Kramarz, Francis

Abstract

We use the French "Customs files", which provide an exhaustive account of the international tradetransactions carried out by firms across the period 1986-1992, to analyze the link between imports,exports, and the employment of manufacturing firms. Firms constantly involved in international tradethroughout the period experience higher job destruction rates, or lower job creation rates, than thosethat are not. The same firms also contribute massively to the observed decrease in the share ofproduction labor in overall employment, and to the decrease in the share of unskilled workers inproduction labor. However, the firms constantly involved in international trade through imports orexports turn out unsurprisingly to be the biggest firms. A simple analysis based on creation anddestruction rates therefore fails to disentangle the size and international trade effects.An analysis of variance of the link between changes in flows of international trade and changes in ourmeasures of firm employment, conditional on size as well as industry affiliation, shows that increasingimports are associated to decreasing employment. In particular, imports of so-called "finished goods",capturing the outsourcing abroad of part of the firm’s local production activities, have the strongestrelationship with the decrease in total employment, as well as (unskilled) production employment. Onthe other hand, exports tend to be associated with job creation, although this result depends on thenature of the exported product. Controlling for firm technological innovation throughout the perioddoes not alter the conclusions obtained on international trade.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Biscourp, Pierre & Kramarz, Francis, 2007. "Employment, skill structure and international trade: Firm-level evidence for France," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 22-51, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:inecon:v:72:y:2007:i:1:p:22-51
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022-1996(06)00112-7
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

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

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Feenstra, Robert C & Hanson, Gordon H, 1996. "Globalization, Outsourcing, and Wage Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 240-245, May.
    2. Robert C. Feenstra & Gordon H. Hanson, 1995. "Foreign Investment, Outsourcing and Relative Wages," NBER Working Papers 5121, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Lionel Fontagné & Michaël Freudenberg & Deniz Ünal, 1995. "Régionalisation et échanges de biens intermédiaires," Working Papers 1995-11, CEPII research center.
    4. Kramarz, Francis & Philippon, Thomas, 2001. "The impact of differential payroll tax subsidies on minimum wage employment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 115-146, October.
    5. David Card & Francis Kramarz & Thomas Lemieux, 1999. "Changes in the Relative Structure of Wages and Employment: A Comparison of the United States, Canada, and France," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 32(4), pages 843-877, August.
    6. Davis, Steven J. & Haltiwanger, John, 1999. "Gross job flows," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 41, pages 2711-2805, Elsevier.
    7. Moshe Buchinsky & Jennifer Hunt, 1999. "Wage Mobility In The United States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(3), pages 351-368, August.
    8. Eli Berman & John Bound & Zvi Griliches, 1994. "Changes in the Demand for Skilled Labor within U. S. Manufacturing: Evidence from the Annual Survey of Manufactures," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(2), pages 367-397.
    9. Bernard, Andrew B. & Bradford Jensen, J., 1999. "Exceptional exporter performance: cause, effect, or both?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 1-25, February.
    10. Bernard, Andrew B. & Jensen, J. Bradford, 1997. "Exporters, skill upgrading, and the wage gap," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 3-31, February.
    11. Bound, John & Johnson, George, 1992. "Changes in the Structure of Wages in the 1980's: An Evaluation of Alternative Explanations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(3), pages 371-392, June.
    12. Jonathan Eaton & Samuel Kortum, 2002. "Technology, Geography, and Trade," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(5), pages 1741-1779, September.
    13. Abowd, John M. & Kramarz, Francis, 2003. "The costs of hiring and separations," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 499-530, October.
    14. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    15. Venables, Anthony J., 1999. "Fragmentation and multinational production," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(4-6), pages 935-945, April.
    16. Ana L. Revenga, 1992. "Exporting Jobs?The Impact of Import Competition on Employment and Wages in U. S. Manufacturing," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(1), pages 255-284.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Monte, Ferdinando, 2011. "Skill bias, trade, and wage dispersion," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 202-218, March.
    2. David Hummels & Jakob R. Munch & Chong Xiang, 2018. "Offshoring and Labor Markets," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(3), pages 981-1028, September.
    3. Hoekman & Bernard & Winters, L. Alan, 2005. "Trade and employment : stylized facts and research findings," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3676, The World Bank.
    4. Paolo Epifani, 2003. "Trade liberalization, Firm Performances and Labor Market Outcomes in the Developing World, what Can We Learn From Micro-Level Data?," Rivista italiana degli economisti, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 3, pages 455-486.
    5. Eric A. Verhoogen, 2008. "Trade, Quality Upgrading, and Wage Inequality in the Mexican Manufacturing Sector," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(2), pages 489-530.
    6. Rosario Crinò, 2009. "Offshoring, Multinationals And Labour Market: A Review Of The Empirical Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 197-249, April.
    7. Dumont, Michel, 2004. "The Impact of International Trade with Newly Industrialised Countries on the Wages and Employment of Low-Skilled and High-Skilled Workers in the European Union," Thesis Commons bmxag, Center for Open Science.
    8. Nucci, Francesco & Pozzolo, Alberto Franco, 2010. "The exchange rate, employment and hours: What firm-level data say," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 112-123, November.
    9. Nathalie Chusseau & Joël Hellier, 2012. "Globalisation and Inequality: Where do we stand?," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 21(3-4), pages 7-34, November.
    10. Sujata Basu, "undated". "R & D Sector Outsourcing, Human Capital Formation and Growth in the Context of Developed versus Developing Economies," Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Discussion Papers 15-05, Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
    11. David H. Autor & Lawrence F. Katz & Alan B. Krueger, 1998. "Computing Inequality: Have Computers Changed the Labor Market?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1169-1213.
    12. Manasse, Paolo & Stanca, Luca & Turrini, Alessandro, 2004. "Wage premia and skill upgrading in Italy: why didn't the hound bark?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 59-83, February.
    13. Jorge Saba Arbache, 2001. "Trade Liberalisation and Labor Markets in Developing Countries: Theory and Evidence," Studies in Economics 0112, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    14. Adrian Wood, 1997. "How Trade Hurt Unskilled Workers," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Jitendralal Borkakoti & Chris Milner (ed.), International Trade and Labour Markets, chapter 7, pages 140-168, Palgrave Macmillan.
    15. Rigby, David L. & Kemeny, Thomas & Cooke, Abigail, 2017. "Plant exit and U.S. imports from low-wage countries," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 27-40.
    16. Monte, Ferdinando & Rossi-Hansberg, Esteban & Caliendo, Lorenzo, 2017. "Exporting and Organizational Change," CEPR Discussion Papers 12177, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Haltiwanger, John & Kugler, Adriana & Kugler, Maurice & Micco, Alejandro & Pagés, Carmen, 2004. "Effects of tariffs and real exchange rates on job reallocation: evidence from Latin America," Discussion Paper Series In Economics And Econometrics 0410, Economics Division, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton.
    18. Peter Kuhn (McMaster), "undated". "Labour Market Polarization: Canada in International Perspective," Canadian International Labour Network Working Papers 02, McMaster University.
    19. Nahuis, R., 1997. "On Globalisation, Trade and Wages," Research Memorandum 747, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    20. James Harrigan & Ariell Reshef, 2015. "Skill‐biased heterogeneous firms, trade liberalization and the skill premium," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(3), pages 1024-1066, August.

    More about this item

    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:eee:inecon:v:72:y:2007:i:1:p:22-51. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505552 .

    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.