Regional production networks,service offshoring,and productivity in East Asia

Using the Asian International Input–Output Table (1990, 1995, and 2000), this paper explores regional production networks and offshoring of material and service inputs in East Asia. In doing so, offshoring is measured directly from the Table, which has not been used in previous literature regarding this issue. It turns out that East Asian countries source significant shares of inputs within East Asia. In addition to material offshoring, service offshoring in East Asia has become increasingly common in the era of globalization. We also evaluate the effects of this fast growing offshoring on productivity. Our econometric results demonstrate that offshoring exerts a significant and positive impact on total factor productivity in East Asia. Service offshoring, in particular, performs a more significant role than material offshoring.     

Employment Effects of Offshoring across Sectors and Occupations in Japan

In the case of Japan, the studies conducted so far focus alone on firm‐level data and delve into the productivity effects and the skill upgrading between skilled and unskilled workers. Here, we carry out an empirical analysis of the employment effects of offshoring for Japanese industries on a broader classification of skills or occupations, while considering the three major sectors of the economy and taking account of both services and materials offshoring. The results suggest that various types of offshoring affect occupations differently. In particular, services offshoring tends to benefit highly skilled occupations more, while materials offshoring tends to benefit production workers instead.     

Offshoring, domestic outsourcing and productivity: evidence for a number of European countries

The growth in offshoring and its economic effects have been subject to extensive empirical analysis. Yet, many studies have not distinguished accurately between offshoring, domestic outsourcing, and supplier changes. The present study provides stylized facts on offshoring in Europe between 1995 and 2008 taking into account this distinction. This study shows that service activities have been systematically offshored and outsourced domestically during this period, whereas manufacturing activities have been systematically offshored or moved from domestic to foreign suppliers. Overall the share of internal production has gone down by 4.5 percentage points, which raises the question whether firms have achieved productivity gains through this specialisation effort. Combining industry-level data on offshoring and domestic outsourcing with a firm panel, this study finds that service offshoring and offshoring of non-core manufacturing activities have contributed to an increase in productivity, whereas no statistically significant link is found for offshoring of core manufacturing activities and domestic outsourcing. The estimated productivity gains are found to be driven in particular by the gains of multinational firms.     

Offshoring and the Skill Structure of Labour Demand in Belgium

A major concern regarding the consequences of offshoring is the worsening of the labour market position of low-skilled workers. This paper addresses this issue by providing evidence on the impact of offshoring on the skill structure of manufacturing employment in Belgium between 1995 and 2007. Offshoring is found to significantly lower the employment share of low-skilled workers. Its contribution to the fall in the employment share of low-skilled workers amounts to 35 %. This is mainly driven by offshoring to Central and Eastern European countries. While most of the previous papers on this subject focus on materials offshoring, we show that offshoring of business services also contributes significantly to the fall in the low-skilled employment share. As a complement to the existing literature, we compare the widely used current price measure of offshoring with a constant price measure that is based on a deflation with separate price indices for domestic output and imports. This reveals that the former underestimate the extent of offshoring and its impact on low-skilled employment. Finally, we also find that the impact of offshoring on low-skilled employment is significantly smaller in industries with a higher ICT capital intensity.     

Offshoring and working hours adjustments in a within-firm labor market

Although a growing body of literature identifies the within-firm redistribution effects of trade, research on the adjustment processes in within-firm labor markets remains scarce. This study analyzes the within-firm adjustment of working hours and wages by considering workers’ educational background and gender in response to a change in offshoring. Matched worker–firm panel data in the Japanese manufacturing sector covering 1998 to 2014 are used. The analysis leads to the following three observations. First, offshoring does not significantly alter the skill premium and gender gap in terms of scheduled monthly salaries and scheduled hourly wages. Second, offshoring decreases skill premium in annual hourly wages, whereas it increases gender gap in annual salaries. Third, this uneven impact on annual variables arises from the different changes in overtime working hours: college graduates work longer with a lower overtime premium, whereas female workers do not increase overtime work.     

服务业离岸外移的经济效应分析

在服务业离岸业务快速增长的前提下,发达国家与发展中国家关于服务业离岸外移效应问题的争论日益激烈。利用制造业离岸外包的理论模型对服务业离岸业务的经济效应进行分析,可以证明,服务业离岸业务对发达国家就业的消极影响是非常小的,从长期看反而可以增加其对技术型工人的相对需求,即服务业离岸业务可以带来服务业务输出国和服务业务承接国的经济增长和福利提高。     

Firm-level effects of offshoring of materials and services on relative labor demand

Based on firm-level data over the period 1997–2002 for the Swedish manufacturing sector the objective of this paper is to analyze relative labor demand effects due to offshoring, separating between materials and services offshoring and also geographical location of trade partner. Overall, our results give no support to the fears that offshoring of materials or services lead to out-location of high-skilled activity in Swedish firms. Rather, this paper finds evidence that the aggregate effects from offshoring lead to increasing relative demand of high-skilled labor, mainly due to services offshoring to middle income countries.     

我国农民工劳动合约签订率低的原因分析——基于劳动力市场分割和产业分割的分析框架

劳动合约签订是劳动保护的重要形式,但我国农民工劳动合约签订率却只是在2008年《劳动合同法》实施后有暂时较大幅度的上扬,此后随时间推移却几近停滞。文章以劳动力市场分割和产业分割框架为基础,构建了不同劳动力市场特征和产业组织特征组合的四象限分析框架,探讨了不同象限中劳动合约的运行机制,并结合我国边缘产业和农民工现状,就劳动合约签订问题建立了一个简单的博弈模型。分析得出,在边缘产业与次级劳动力市场的组合下,农民工劳动合约签订存在着"组织失灵"、"市场失灵"和"政府失灵"三重困境,这是我国农民工劳动合同签约率停滞不前的主要原因。文章最后提出了相应的结论和政策建议。     

INFORMALIZATION OF INDUSTRIAL LABOR IN INDIA: EFFECTS OF LABOR MARKET RIGIDITIES AND IMPORT COMPETITION

Since the 1980s, industrial labor in India has been increasingly informalized, manifested in a rising share of unorganized sector employment and the growing use of temporary and contract workers, and subcontracting in organized manufacturing. Using unit‐level data from the National Sample Survey employment–unemployment survey for 2004–5, the paper investigates econometrically whether labor market rigidities and import competition have been responsible for the informalization of industrial labor in India. The results of econometric models show that labor market reforms tend to increase the creation of regular jobs, while import competition tends to raise casual employment among workers with education levels above primary.     

Why is the gender earnings gap greater in Korea than in the United States?

It has long been recognized that the gender earnings gap varies across countries. This paper examines the relatively higher gender earnings gap found in the Korean labor market compared to the US labor market. Using the data set representative of the population for both countries, I found that the significant part of the differences in the gender earnings gap simply arise from the differences in the observed characteristics of women among two countries. In particular, relatively lower labor market experience, current job tenure, and educational attainment by Korean female workers play dominant roles in explaining the observed higher earnings gap. In addition, wage structure and labor market discrimination seem to be against Korean female workers compared to US female workers. J. Japanese Int. Economies 21 (4) (2007) 455–469.     

非股权离岸服务贸易产生的原因分析

本文考察非股权离岸服务贸易市场的离岸外包与承包之间均衡的决定,分析了最终服务生产商是否外包、外包多少以及服务承包商是否承包标准化的中间服务这一问题。本文的分析表明,这一均衡状态由生产标准化的中间服务的服务外包商和承包商的生产成本、交易成本、管理成本、两国的劳动力价格以及服务外包商的垄断定价能力等决定。     

Issues on Future of Offshoring and Global Sourcing

In recent years, outsourcing strategies have undergone a profound evolution, moving from being a pure make or buy tactical decision to becoming part of strategy. By tradition, firms originally considered outsourcing as a solution to short-term problems, such as a sudden or unexpected increase in demand, an interruption in plant or equipment functioning, or the launch of a new product. Today firms consider outsourcing as a network of stable agreements with specialized suppliers as part of a long-term strategic perspective. The tendency is to attain offshoring and global sourcing. However, researchers are unanimous in recognizing that there are many obstacles to adopting a long-term outsourcing and offshoring strategies. They have also been heavily criticized by governments （the U.S. and Europe in particular） as recognized as a cause of further weakening national economies. Recently, some studies and research found that the large multinational corporations, mainly in the United States, are moving their production back or considering it such a strategic decision in the near future. So what is the future for offshoring and global sourcing？     

The dynamics of regional labor markets and active labor market policy: Swedish evidence

This paper analyses the repercussions of region-specific shocksto labor demand. Active labor market programs have been targetedat high unemployment regions in Sweden, a fact that should influencethe regional adjustment process. Fears have been expressed thatsome of the programs may have adverse effects on adjustmentby, for instance, locking-in displaced workers in depressedregions. The empirical results indicate that Swedish regionaladjustment has been comparatively rapid; labor mobility in responseto shocks, for instance, appears to be high by European standards.On the whole, labor market programs do not seem to have impededregional adjustment substantially.     

Offshoring and the skill structure of labour demand

In this paper we examine the link between international outsourcing—or offshoring—and the skill structure of labour demand for a sample of 40 countries over the period 1995–2009. The paper uses data from the recently compiled World Input–Output Database to estimate a system of variable factor demand equations. These data allow us to exploit both a cross-country and cross-industry dimension and split employment into three skill categories. Our results indicate that while offshoring has impacted negatively upon all skill levels within industries, the largest impacts have been observed for medium-skilled workers. Such results are consistent with recent evidence indicating that medium-skilled workers have suffered to a greater extent than other skill types in recent years.     

Unionization,market structure,and economic growth

This article investigates the macroeconomic effects of unionization in a Schumpeterian growth model with an endogenous product market structure and a unionized labor market. The endogeneity of the market structure and the trade unionism of the labor market interact and jointly determine the equilibrium unemployment, firm size, number of firms, economic growth, and distribution of income between workers and firms. We show that unionization governs the distribution of income between workers and firms and the unemployment rate, but it does not give rise to any growth effect on the economy. In addition, unionization discourages potential entrants and hence decreases the equilibrium number of firms. These results echo the empirical observation in the sense that unionization raises unemployment and alters the distribution of income between workers and firms, but it does not give rise to a significant, real impact on the firms’ investment and the economy‐wide growth.     

Import competition from and offshoring to low-income countries: Implications for employment and wages at U.S. domestic manufacturers

Using confidential linked firm-level trade transactions and census data between 1997 and 2012, we provide new evidence on how American firms without foreign affiliates adjust employment and wages as they adapt to import competition from low-income countries. We provide stylized facts on the input sourcing strategies of these domestic firms, contrasting them with multinationals operating in the same industry. We then investigate how changes in firm input purchases from low-income countries as well as domestic market import penetration from these sources are correlated with changes in employment and wages at surviving domestic firms. Greater offshoring by domestic firms from low-income countries correlates with larger declines in manufacturing employment and in the average production workers’ wage. Given the negative association, however, the estimated magnitudes are small, even for a narrow measure of offshoring that includes only intermediate goods. Import penetration of U.S. markets from these sources is associated with relatively larger changes in employment for arm’s length importing firms, but has no significant correlation with employment changes at firms that do not trade. Given differences in the degree of both offshoring and import penetration, we find substantial variation across industries in the magnitude of changes associated with low-income country imports.     

Wage increases, wage convergence, and the Lewis turning point in China

We examine the wage trends of ordinary workers and the wage convergence between unskilled and skilled workers in China. First, we find that wages in all non-agricultural sectors, wages of migrant workers, and wages of hired workers in the agricultural sector have increased dramatically since 2003. Second, through comparing wage differentials between migrant and urban resident workers and between heterogeneous education groups within migrant workers, and by investigating the changes in the contribution of the returns to education to wage differentials, we find that the wages of unskilled and skilled workers have converged. Both the increasing wage trends and wage convergence are interpreted as evidence supporting the hypothesis that China has passed what can be called the Lewis turning point in the industrial sector. We conclude that the sustainability of economic growth in China requires an upgrading of labor market institutions to accommodate the merging of the rural and urban labor forces.     

农民工转型过程中的信息需求模式探讨

随着时代的进步和信息技术的不断发展,各行各业都面临着新的机遇和挑战。农民工是我国劳动力市场的最大供给方,也是农业信息服务的最大需求群体。正确分析农民工的信息需求现状,探讨农业信息服务需求模型,对于发展创新我国农业信息服务管理体制、促进农村经济稳定快速发展和实现农民工的快速转型具有十分重要的现实意义。     

ICT,offshoring, and the demand for part-time workers: The case of Japanese manufacturing

This paper examines the effects of information and communication technology (ICT) and offshoring on the skill demand in Japanese manufacturing. One of the contributions of this paper is that we focus explicitly on the demand for low-wage part-time workers, which we call low skilled workers. Estimating a system of variable factor demands for the period 1980–2011, we find that industries with higher ICT stock shifted demand from middle-low to middle-high and low skilled workers. Offshoring is associated with the increasing demand for high skilled workers but it has insignificant effects on the demand for middle-high, middle-low, and low skilled workers. The results together suggest that the increasing demand for low-wage part-time workers can be attributable to ICT in Japan.     

社会网络与民工工资：来自中国的证据

 本文基于来自中国22个省的农户调查数据研究了利用的不同社会网络对于不同的民工在城市劳动力市场上的工资水平的影响,结果发现：并不是利用所有的社会网络都能够提高所有民工的工资水平。首先,只有利用亲友关系找到的工作才能够得到更高的工资;其次,即使亲友关系也不能提高利用它找到工作的所有民工的工资水平,而只能显著提高女性和已婚民工的工资水平。所以,在研究中忽略社会网络和民工的差异性会导致错误的研究结论。本文有助于帮助理解中国的劳动力流动及社会网络在劳动力市场中的作用。