Effects of Chinese Imports on Relative Wages: Microevidence from Chile

Abstract

The increasing prominence of China in world trade raises important questions about the impact of this on importer countries. In this paper, we address the issue of how import competition from China has affected relative wages in the Chilean manufacturing industry. Using plant‐level data for the period 1996–2005, we find that increasing imports from China have depressed relative wages in sectors with higher Chinese‐import penetration. Our results show a significant reduction of relative wages, between 4 and 25 percent, for those sectors that have experienced the largest increases in Chinese imports. We also find that this effect is particularly strong for small firms, while large firms are unaffected.

Keywords: Import competition, salaries, China, manufacturing plants

JEL Classification: J31, F16, L60