Trade and tasks: an exploration over three decades in Germany

Sascha Becker and Marc-Andreas Muendler

Economic Policy, 2015, vol. 30, issue 84, 589-641

Abstract: This paper combines representative worker-level data that cover time-varying job-level task characteristics of an economy over several decades with sector-level bilateral trade data for merchandise and services. We carefully create longitudinally consistent workplace characteristics from the German Qualification and Career Survey 1979-2006 and prepare trade flow statistics from varying sources. Four main facts emerge: (1) intermediate inputs constitute a major share of imports and dominate German imports since at least the 1970s; (2) the German workforce increasingly specializes in workplace activities and job requirements that are typically considered non-offshorable, mainly within and not between sectors and occupations; (3) the imputed activity and job requirement content of German imports grows relatively more intensive in work characteristics typically considered offshorable; and (4) labour-market institutions at German trade partners are largely unrelated to the changing task content of German imports but German sector-level outcomes exhibit some covariation consistent with faster task offshoring in sectors exposed to lower labour-market tightness. We discuss policy implications of these findings.

Date: 2015
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Related works:
Working Paper: Trade and tasks: an exploration over three decades in Germany (2015)
Working Paper: Trade and Tasks: An Exploration over Three Decades in Germany (2014)
Working Paper: Trade and Tasks: An Exploration over Three Decades in Germany (2014)
Working Paper: Trade and Tasks: An Exploration over Three Decades in Germany (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:ecpoli:v:30:y:2015:i:84:p:589-641.

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