Abstract:
Over the 1990's Brazil experienced a massive trade liberalization and wide variation in the real exchange rate. At the same time, employment growth was small and in manufacturing there was a significant reduction in total manufacturing. The main goal of this article is to idntify the effects of the exchange rate and trade liberalization on job and worker flows in Brazil. Using a novel sector exchange rate measure, our results suggest that a depreciation of the exchange rate affects net employment growth by increasing job creation and hires, with no effect on job reallocation. Tariffs have no effect on job or worker flows, while import penetration decrease job growth by increasing job destruction. The results suggest that the echange rate have a very important role on job and worker flows, even after controlling for openess and sector specificities.