The Labor Content of Exports Database

Cali, Massimiliano; Francois, Joseph; Hollweg, Claire H.; Manchin, Miriam; Oberdabernig, Doris Anita; Rojas-Romagosa, Hugo; Rubinova, Stela; Tomberger, Patrick

The Labor Content of Exports Database

2016

This paper develops a novel methodology to measure the quantity of jobs and value of wages embodied in exports for a large number of countries and sectors for intermittent years between 1995 and 2011. The resulting Labor Content of Exports database allows the examination of the direct contribution of labor to exports as well as the indirect contribution via other sectors of the economy for skilled and unskilled labor. The analysis of the new data sets documents several new findings. First, the global share of labor value added in exports has been declining globally since 1995, but it has increased in low-income countries. Second, in line with the standard Hecksher-Ohlin trade model, the composition of labor directly contained in exports is skewed toward skilled labor in high-income countries relative to developing countries. However, that is not the case for the indirect labor content of exports. Third, manufacturing exports are a key source of labor demand in other sectors, especially in middle- and low-income countries. And the majority of the indirect demand for labor spurred by exports is in services sectors, whose workers are the largest beneficiaries of exporting activities globally. Fourth, differences in the labor value added in exports share across developing countries appears to be driven more by differences in the composition of exports rather than in sector labor intensities. Finally, average wages typically increase rapidly enough with the process of economic development to more than compensate the loss in jobs per unit of exports. The paper also includes the necessary information to build the Labor Content of Exports database from the original raw data, including stata do-files and matlab files, as well as descriptions of the variables in the data set.

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AGROVOC Keywords

accounting agriculture bank demand developing countries development domestic production economic geography economic systems economics economies effects employment equilibrium exports gross national product income industry information inputs insurance international trade investment labor land markets multipliers national income natural resources occupations organizations policies prices private sector production productivity public services regression analysis services sewage supply telecommunications trade transport trends value added wages water supply workers wto

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Other Subjects

Saving; Gross value; Laborers; Goods; Labor compensation; Labor market institutions; Labor costs; General equilibrium; Value; Skilled workers; Employees; Governments; Gdp; Export competitiveness; Labor intensities; Income levels; Labor market outcomes; Suppliers; Production process; Labor market; Value of output; Trade policy; Income groups; Export production; Servants; Nominal wages; Theory; Outcomes; Labor force; General equilibrium analysis; Economy; Trade agreement; Comparative advantages; Middle income country; Unskilled labor; Private sector activities; Development policy; Labor intensity; Rents; Export growth; Trade model; Export sector; Competitiveness; Drivers; Labor share; Unskilled workers; Private services; Equilibrium analysis; Labor value; Shares; Comparative advantage; Direct value; Trade flows; Job; Country comparisons; Worker; Domestic inputs; Global trade; Production function; Gdp per capita; Financial services; Total employment; Total output; Skill groups; Bilateral trade; Labor-intensive export; Total wages; Skilled labor; Average wage; Lags; Average wages; World trade; Security; Jobs; Clerks; Outputs; Labor demand; Previous studies; Labor markets; Trade data; Variables; Labor office; Middle income countries

Language

English

In AGRIS since: 2021-06-15

Format: AGRIS AP

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http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24156

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The Labor Content of Exports Database

2016

AGROVOC Keywords

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