Global Agricultural Value Chains and Employment Growth

Abstract

The rise of agricultural global value chains (AGVCs) has transformed the nature of food production around the world. This paper provides evidence on the job creation effects in response to the expansion of AGVCs in agrarian economies. By using a constructed panel data set of 155 countries for the period 1991-2015, we find that a greater AGVC participation is associated with an increase in agricultural employment growth. We uncover evidence that the positive job creation impact is mainly driven by the processed food sector downstream of global value chains (GVCs) rather than the raw commodity sector upstream of GVCs. We find substantial heterogeneity of impacts that are more pronounced in lower-middle and high-income countries than in low-income countries.

Keywords: Global Value Chains, Agricultural Supply Chains, Employment, Job Creation, Labor Market

JEL Classification: E24, F14, F63, O13, Q17