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Trade and Jobs in Portugal: A Microeconomic Approach. CEPS Working Document No. 160, January 2001

Rute Cardoso, Ana. (2001) Trade and Jobs in Portugal: A Microeconomic Approach. CEPS Working Document No. 160, January 2001. [Working Paper]

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    Abstract

    The Portuguese economy presents a low unemployment rate when compared to its European counterparts and it has been claimed that this is partly due to the slow restructuring of the economy, which has been keeping its specialisation in traditional industries, some of them major exporting industries. This study analyses job creation and job destruction at the firm level across skill groups, during the 1980s and the 1990s. The major aim is to explore the role of international trade against alternative explanations of job flows, providing an answer to the question: did international trade help sustain the employment of particular groups of workers, namely the least skilled, in the Portuguese economy? Could conditions in international markets therefore have contributed to keep a low unemployment rate? A matched data set on workers and firms is used, which includes a direct measure of the skill of the worker. Results indicate that technology indicators are more relevant determinants of job flows than conditions in international product markets. Indeed, import prices have no impact on job creation or job destruction for the unskilled or on job creation for the skilled. Higher export prices lead to job creation for the skilled labour force, thus pointing to a certain skill upgrading.

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    Item Type: Working Paper
    Subjects for non-EU documents: Countries > Portugal
    EU policies and themes > Policies & related activities > employment/labour market > employment/unemployment
    EU policies and themes > Policies & related activities > economic and financial affairs > trade policy
    EU policies and themes > EU institutions & developments > institutional development/policy > historical development of EC (pre-1986)
    Subjects for EU documents: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Series and Periodicals: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Annual Reports: UNSPECIFIED
    Series: Series > Centre for European Policy Studies (Brussels) > CEPS Working Documents
    Depositing User: Phil Wilkin
    Official EU Document: No
    Language: English
    Date Deposited: 11 Nov 2009
    Page Range: p. 28
    Last Modified: 15 Feb 2011 18:16
    URI: http://aei.pitt.edu/id/eprint/11683

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