Trade and Tasks: An Exploration Over Three Decades in Germany
89 Pages Posted: 14 Jan 2015
There are 2 versions of this paper
Trade and Tasks: An Exploration Over Three Decades in Germany
Trade and Tasks: An Exploration Over Three Decades in Germany
Date Written: December 29, 2014
Abstract
This paper combines representative worker-level data that cover time-varying job-level task characteristics of an economy over a long time span with sector-level bilateral trade data for merchandize 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: (i) intermediate inputs constitute a major share of imports, and their relevance grows especially in the early decade; (ii) 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; (iii) the imputed activity and job requirement content of German imports grows relatively more intensive in work characteristics typically considered offshorable; and (iv) 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.
Keywords: trade in tasks, offshoring, demand for labour, labour force survey
JEL Classification: F16, F14, J23, J24
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation