Is There a Link between the Changing Skills of Labor Used in U.S. Processed Food Trade and Rural Employment?

Gerald Schluter () and Chinkook Lee

Journal of Agricultural & Applied Economics, 2004, vol. 36, issue 3, pages 691-703

Abstract: Between the 1970s and the 1990s, processed food exports switched from using more skilled labor per unit of output than imports to the opposite. Processed food trade also expanded during this period. More meat and poultry products in processed food trade could explain this switch in skill intensity. Growing meat trade paralleled an urban-to-rural shift in meat processing. While this could have been a win-win situation for rural areas, many of the jobs related to expanded meat trade benefited commuter and migrant workers because late-1990s jobs slaughtering livestock and processing meat did not appeal to domestic rural workers.

Keywords: Consolidation in the meat industry; factor content of trade; input-output analysis; international meat trade; processed food trade; rural development; rural labor demand; skill intensity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C67 D24 F14 F16 J61 L66 O18 Q17 R15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)

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Journal of Agricultural & Applied Economics is edited by Jeffrey M. Gillespie

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