L'impact du commerce international sur la productivité et la qualification du travail au sein des secteurs

This study emphasises the importance of international competition in the change of labour demand within each industrial sector. The econometric estimates, carried out in sectoral cross-section over the medium run for Germany, the United States and France, provide two main results. An increased import penetration rate in a given industry has a positive impact on partial labour productivity in this industry, and the impact is twice as large when imports come from a poor country than from a rich one. Trade would thus have induced a 13% increase of labour productivity in French manufacturing between 1977 and 1993, 8 points of which are due to trade with poor countries. An increased penetration rate of imports in an industry also raises average labour skill, although this effect seems to be less important quantitatively. Classification JEL : F16, J23, L11