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Assessing the impact of free trade agreement (FTA) signing on China’s outbound labor services

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  • Zihan Zhang
  • Qin Li

Abstract

This study utilizes panel data encompassing 164 countries to analyze China’s foreign labor export from 2008 to 2017. Employing the multi-period double-difference method, the research investigates the impact of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signings on China’s labor export. Empirical findings reveal the following insights:The signing of FTAs significantly enhances China’s foreign labor export, demonstrating a temporal effect. Importantly, this conclusion withstands rigorous testing through various robustness checks. FTAs have a positive impact on China’s labor export to developing countries but do not exhibit a similar effect on developed countries. The impact of FTAs on labor export is pronounced in contractual engineering scenarios, while no discernible effect is observed in China’s labor cooperation. Through a meticulous examination of specific WTO+ and WTO-X provisions, the study underscores that it is primarily the WTO+ provisions that drive China’s foreign labor export. Consequently, strategic recommendations are proposed. These include fostering additional FTAs between China and developing nations, prioritizing labor export within contracted projects, encouraging expansion of Chinese labor export enterprises into new markets, promoting multi-party cooperation to facilitate overseas labor export, diligent consideration of existing FTA provisions, and exploration of transitioning from WTO+ to WTO-X provisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Zihan Zhang & Qin Li, 2025. "Assessing the impact of free trade agreement (FTA) signing on China’s outbound labor services," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(6), pages 1534-1558, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:jitecd:v:34:y:2025:i:6:p:1534-1558
    DOI: 10.1080/09638199.2024.2392679
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