Trade liberalization, labor market regulations and labor demand in Cameroon

Ousmanou Njikam

International Review of Economics & Finance, 2016, vol. 43, issue C, 525-541

Abstract: In this article we analyze whether trade and labor market liberalization affects the demand for total, skilled and unskilled employment in the manufacturing sector. The analysis uses Cameroonian firm-level data before (1988–91) and after (1994–01) both reforms. Comparing treated and untreated (control) firms in a difference-in-differences framework, we find that the reforms have been successful in boosting the demand for unskilled jobs, explaining 1.3–9.5% increase in the demand for unskilled workers. We also find evidence of no clear effects of reforms on total and skilled labor demand. The sector-level results do not change the previous findings. The findings are also robust to changes in the definition of treated and control firms.

Keywords: Trade liberalization; Labor-market reform; Labor demand (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F16 J23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059056016000162
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:reveco:v:43:y:2016:i:c:p:525-541

DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2016.02.001

Access Statistics for this article

International Review of Economics & Finance is currently edited by H. Beladi and C. Chen

More articles in International Review of Economics & Finance from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().