Multinational Enterprises and Quality of Jobs In Cameroon: Does The Mode Of Entry Matter?

We investigate whether multinational enterprises (MNEs) create high quality jobs than domestic firms in least-developed countries. We argue that the quality of jobs offered by MNEs may differ depending on their two alternative entry modes, that is, greenfields (GRFs) versus joint ventures (JVs). Using 2005-2017 firm-level Cameroonian data, we find that relative to local firms, MNEs offer more secure jobs through lower speeds and greater half-lives of employment adjustment as well as lower elasticity of employment, and they also offer high-wage jobs. GRFs and JVs also offer more secure jobs than local firms, but through different mechanisms, i.e., employment adjustment processes for the former and wage elasticity for the latter, and their generous wage policies differ across skill groups and occupations. In contrast, skill-intensive MNEs and namely GRFs employ less unskilled workers while skill-intensive JVs enhance managerial and technical occupations. We also find that capital-intensive JVs have a significantly positive impact on both non-production and production employment and generate less jobs in managerial and technical occupations. These results hold for the intensity of foreign ownership and firm exit.