Assessing export resilience and its dimensional subdivision in China's labor-intensive manufacturing industry

Zhihui Dai and Yue Niu

Economic Analysis and Policy, 2025, vol. 87, issue C, 1854-1875

Abstract: In an era marked by heightened global uncertainty, export resilience in the labor-intensive manufacturing industry has become critical not only for cushioning external shocks but also for sustaining stability in international trade and employment. This study establishes an analytical framework to assess export resilience by examining the spatiotemporal dynamics of China’s labor-intensive manufacturing during two prominent crises: the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the COVID-19 pandemic. Export resilience is then systematically analyzed across three distinct dimensions: resistance, recovery, and renewal. The empirical findings reveal that China's labor-intensive manufacturing industries exhibited fluctuating resilience trajectories without transitioning into a new stable growth path during both crises. Industries characterized by higher levels of environmental pollution consistently displayed weaker export resilience. Moreover, the spatial interdependencies of export resilience within these industries declined during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the GFC. Notably, during the GFC, labor-intensive manufacturing exhibited relatively weaker resistance and renewal capacities but stronger recovery abilities compared to the overall manufacturing sector. Furthermore, industries characterized by higher labor intensity generally demonstrated lower levels of export resistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. These insights significantly advance our understanding of how export industries adapt to diverse economic disruptions, thereby informing more targeted and effective policy interventions.

Keywords: Labor-intensive manufacturing industry; Export resilience; Global financial crisis; COVID-19 pandemic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0313592625003133
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:87:y:2025:i:c:p:1854-1875

DOI: 10.1016/j.eap.2025.07.039

Access Statistics for this article

Economic Analysis and Policy is currently edited by Clevo Wilson

More articles in Economic Analysis and Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().