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The Effects of Exchange Rates on Employment in Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Huang, Haifang

    (University of Alberta, Department of Economics)

  • Pang, Ke

    (Department of Economics, Wilfred Laurier University)

  • Tang, Yao

    (Department of Economics, Bowdoin College)

Abstract

Under the flexible exchange rate regime, the Canadian economy is constantly affected by fluctuations in exchange rates. This paper focuses on employment in Canada. We find that appreciations of the Canadian dollar have significant effects on employment in manufacturing industries; such effects are mostly associated with the export-weighted exchange rate and not the import-weighted exchange rate. The export-weighted exchange rate elasticity of employment is -0.52. However, we also find that exchange rate fluctuations have little impact on Canada’s nonmanufacturing employment. Because the manufacturing sector accounts for only about 10% of the employment in Canada, the overall employment effect of exchange rates is small. In addition, we assess the potential employment impact of a boom in the global commodity market, which often leads to appreciations of the Canadian dollar. We find that a 12.21% increase in commodity prices (one standard deviation in the 1994-2007 data) reduces Canada’s manufacturing employment by 0.98%, less than 0.1% of the total industrial employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Huang, Haifang & Pang, Ke & Tang, Yao, 2013. "The Effects of Exchange Rates on Employment in Canada," Working Papers 2013-8, University of Alberta, Department of Economics, revised 30 Apr 2014.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:albaec:2013_008
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Betts, Caroline M. & Kehoe, Timothy J., 2006. "U.S. real exchange rate fluctuations and relative price fluctuations," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(7), pages 1297-1326, October.
    2. Haifang Huang & Ke Pang & Yao Tang, 2014. "Effects of Exchange Rates on Employment in Canada," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 40(4), pages 339-352, December.
    3. Stoyanov, Andrey, 2009. "Trade policy of a free trade agreement in the presence of foreign lobbying," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 37-49, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Haifang Huang & Ke Pang & Yao Tang, 2014. "Effects of Exchange Rates on Employment in Canada," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 40(4), pages 339-352, December.
    2. Muhammad Shahid Hassan & Amna Kausar & Noman Arshed, 2022. "Investigating Export Determinants: A Time Series Evidence From Canada," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, June.
    3. Saghir Pervaiz GHAURI & Hina QADIR & Rizwan Raheem AHMED & Dalia STREIMIKIENE & Justas STREIMIKIS, 2022. "The Exports Performance of Pakistan: Evidence from the ARDL Cointegration Analysis," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(4), pages 150-168, December.
    4. Kim P. Huynh & Yuri Ostrovsky & Robert J. Petrunia & Marcel C. Voia, 2017. "Industry shutdown rates and permanent layoffs: evidence from firm-worker matched data," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-31, December.
    5. Chama CHIPETA & Daniel Francois MEYER, 2018. "Trade Openness, FDI and Exchange Rate Effects on Job Creation in South Africa's Tradable Sectors," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 10(4), pages 197-212.
    6. Chama Chipeta, 2022. "Analysing The Employment Effects Of The Exchange Rate, Foreign Direct Investment And Trade Openness On South Africa’S Non-Tradable Sectors," JOURNAL STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABES-BOLYAI NEGOTIA, Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Business.
    7. Lina Cardona-Sosa & Fredy Gamboa-Estrada & Jesahel Higuera-Barajas, 2019. "Cheap employment: ¿Aumenta el empleo manufacturero con una depreciación real?," Borradores de Economia 1062, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    exchange rate; employment in Canada;

    JEL classification:

    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand

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