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Trade, tasks, and training: The effect of offshoring on individual skill upgrading

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  • Hogrefe, Jan
  • Wrona, Jens

Abstract

We offer a theoretical explanation and empirical evidence for a positive link between increased offshoring and individual skill upgrading. Skill upgrading takes the form of on-the-job training, complementing the existing literature, which mainly focuses on the retraining of workers after a direct job displacement through offshoring. To establish a link between offshoring and on-the-job training, we introduce an individual skill upgrading margin into the small-open-economy version of the Grossman and Rossi-Hansberg (2008) model of offshoring. In our model offshoring, by scaling up workers' wages, creates previously unexploited skill upgrading possibilities and, thus, leads to more on-the-job training. Using data from German manufacturing, we find strong empirical support for the prediction that increased offshoring is positively related to individual on-the-job training participation.

Suggested Citation

  • Hogrefe, Jan & Wrona, Jens, 2013. "Trade, tasks, and training: The effect of offshoring on individual skill upgrading," University of Tübingen Working Papers in Business and Economics 64, University of Tuebingen, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, School of Business and Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:tuewef:64
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), 2011. "Handbook of Labor Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 4.
    2. O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), 2011. "Handbook of Labor Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 5.
    3. Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2001. "Continuous training in Germany," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 14(3), pages 523-548.
    4. Gene M. Grossman & Esteban Rossi‐Hansberg, 2012. "Task Trade Between Similar Countries," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 80(2), pages 593-629, March.
    5. Acemoglu, Daron & Autor, David, 2011. "Skills, Tasks and Technologies: Implications for Employment and Earnings," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 12, pages 1043-1171, Elsevier.
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    Cited by:

    1. Akay, Alpaslan & Savsin, Selen, 2022. "Offshoring and well-being of workers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 388-407.
    2. Borrs, Linda & Eppelsheimer, Johann, 2020. "The effects of foreign direct investment on job stability: Upgrades, downgrades, and separations," IAB-Discussion Paper 202024, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    3. Zierahn, Ulrich Theodor & Arntz, Melanie & Hogrefe, Jan, 2015. "Heterogeneous Labor Market Adjustments to Offshoring in European Regions," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112976, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Paulo Bastos & Joana Silva & Rafael Proença, 2016. "Exports and Job Training," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 737-756, September.
    5. Machin, Stephen & Costa, Rui & Dhingra, Swati, 2019. "Trade and Worker Deskilling," CEPR Discussion Papers 13768, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    6. Jan Hogrefe & Yao Yao, 2016. "Offshoring and labor income risk: an empirical investigation," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 1045-1063, May.
    7. Koerner, Konstantin & Borrs, Linda & Eppelsheimer, Johann, 2023. "FDI and onshore job stability: Upgrades, downgrades, and separations in multinationals," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    8. Wilhelm Kohler & Jens Wrona, 2021. "Trade in tasks: Revisiting the wage and employment effects of offshoring," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(2), pages 648-676, May.

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    JEL classification:

    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • F61 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Microeconomic Impacts

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