International Trade and Job Polarization: Evidence at the Worker Level

Wolfgang Keller and Hale Utar

No 16381, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We employ employer-employee matched data from Denmark and utilize plausibly exogenous variation in the rise of import competition due to the dismantling of import quotas as China entered the World Trade Organization to show, first, that rising import competition has led to reduced employment in mid-wage occupations compensated by an increased likelihood of employment in both low-wage and high-wage occupations. Workers with higher education are more likely to move from mid- to high-wage occupations due to trade compared to moving from mid- to low-wage occupations. Employing task content information of detailed occupations, we also show that workers performing manual tasks are the ones most affected by import competition independently of the routine-task intensity of occupations. This implies that the effect of import competition is distinct from that of routine task-replacing technological change

Keywords: job polarization; employer-employee matched data; import competition; job trajectories of individual workers; trade; technology; task; China; Denmark (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F14 F16 F66 J23 J24 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 90 pages
Date: 2023-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-eur, nep-int and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Published - published in: Journal of International Economics, 2023, 145, 103810.

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Related works:
Journal Article: International trade and job polarization: Evidence at the worker level (2023)
Working Paper: International Trade and Job Polarization: Evidence at the Worker Level (2016)
Working Paper: International Trade and Job Polarization: Evidence at the Worker-Level (2016)
Working Paper: International Trade and Job Polarization: Evidence at the Worker-Level (2016)
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