Internationalisation and job flows: what does an accounting approach show?[Internationalisation et flux d'emplois : que dit une approche comptable ?]

There are at least two ways to consider the impact of internationalization on employment. The first one considers its impact on the global stock of jobs: it requires a general equilibrium approach and this rules out accounting approaches that simply compare the job contents of imports and exports. The second one consists in looking at its contribution to gross flows of job destruction/creation. This descriptive approach is the one that is the most likely to fit with usual perceptions of the phenomenon. We examine whether the method of job contents can help answering this question, after some adaptation. The adaptation consists in reformulating this approach in dynamic terms, i.e. exploring how changes in import flows contribute to job destructions in declining sectors. According to the assumptions made in this paper, the gross flow of job destructions resulting from internationalization would have amounted to about 35 000 per year over the 2000-2005 period, with an annual profile consistent with changes in the perception of the problem by public opinion.