The Effects of Exports on Employment in Korean Manufacturing: An Industry-Level Analysis

4 Pages Posted: 19 Mar 2018

See all articles by Unjung Whang

Unjung Whang

Korea Institute for International Economic Policy

Sooyoung Lee

Korea Institute for International Economic Policy

Hyuk-Hwang Kim

Korea Institute for International Economic Policy

Youngho Kang

Soongsil University

Date Written: March 2, 2018

Abstract

This article begins with the question of what is the main reason why export growth does not lead to sufficient job creation, and examines the relationship between exports and employment from various perspectives. We applied the growth accounting method to decompose the changes in employment induced by exports into the scale and composition effects on employment, so that it captures the employment effect caused by the changes in the composition of export products. From this analysis, it can be seen that the reduction in the employment effect of exports is highly correlated with the changes in the composition of the export products toward less labor-intensive. From the empirical analysis using industry-level data, it is confirmed that the higher the capital intensity, the lower the export elasticity of employment. Another interesting founding is that the export elasticity of employment is higher when the export proportion of SMEs (or final consumption goods) is larger.

Keywords: Exports, Domestic Employment

Suggested Citation

Whang, Unjung and Lee, Sooyoung and Kim, Hyuk-Hwang and Kang, Youngho, The Effects of Exports on Employment in Korean Manufacturing: An Industry-Level Analysis (March 2, 2018). KIEP Research Paper, World Economy Brief 18-08, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3142517 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3142517

Unjung Whang (Contact Author)

Korea Institute for International Economic Policy ( email )

[30147] Building C, Sejong National Research Compl
Seoul, 370
Korea, Republic of (South Korea)

Sooyoung Lee

Korea Institute for International Economic Policy ( email )

[30147] Building C, Sejong National Research Compl
Seoul, 370
Korea, Republic of (South Korea)

Hyuk-Hwang Kim

Korea Institute for International Economic Policy ( email )

[30147] Building C, Sejong National Research Compl
Seoul, 370
Korea, Republic of (South Korea)

Youngho Kang

Soongsil University ( email )

511, Sangdo-dong, Dongjak-gu
Seoul
Korea, Republic of (South Korea)

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