Us Exports and Employment

48 Pages Posted: 28 Nov 2017 Last revised: 26 Mar 2023

See all articles by Robert C. Feenstra

Robert C. Feenstra

University of California, Davis - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Hong Ma

Tsinghua University - School of Economics & Management

Yuan Xu

Tsinghua University - School of Economics & Management

Date Written: November 2017

Abstract

We examine the employment responses to import competition from China and to global export expansion from the United States, both of which have been expanding strongly during the past decades. We find that although Chinese imports reduce jobs, at both the industry level and the local commuting zone level, the global export expansion of US products also creates a considerable number of jobs. On balance over the entire 1991-2007 period, job gains due to changes in US global exports were slightly less than job losses due to Chinese imports. Using data at both the industry level and the commuting zone level, we find a net loss of around 0.2-0.3 million jobs. When we extend the analysis to 1991-2011, we find the net job effect of import and export exposure is roughly balanced at the commuting zone level.

Suggested Citation

Feenstra, Robert C. and Ma, Hong and Xu, Yuan, Us Exports and Employment (November 2017). NBER Working Paper No. w24056, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3077784

Robert C. Feenstra (Contact Author)

University of California, Davis - Department of Economics ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Hong Ma

Tsinghua University - School of Economics & Management ( email )

Beijing, 100084
China

Yuan Xu

Tsinghua University - School of Economics & Management ( email )

Beijing, 100084
China

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