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Foreign Ownership and Labour Markets in Sub-Saharan African Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Neil Foster-McGregor

    (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw)

  • Anders Isaksson
  • Florian Kaulich

Abstract

In this paper we examine whether foreign-owned firms pay higher wages and have higher levels of employment than domestically-owned firms in a cross-section of sub-Saharan African (SSA) firms using data from 19 SSA countries. We also test for the presence of wage spillovers, examining whether the wages offered by foreign-owned firms in an industry impact upon the wages paid by domestically-owned firms. Our results indicate that foreign-owned firms tend to pay higher average wages, employ more workers and generate positive human capital effects. This tends to be true for total employment and average wages for all workers as well as for blue- and white-collar workers separately. The effects of foreign ownership tend to be stronger for white-collar workers when considering wages and for blue-collar workers when considering employment. Our results also suggest that the presence of foreign-owned firms does not significantly impact upon the wages paid by domestically-owned firms however.

Suggested Citation

  • Neil Foster-McGregor & Anders Isaksson & Florian Kaulich, 2013. "Foreign Ownership and Labour Markets in Sub-Saharan African Firms," wiiw Working Papers 99, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    • Handle: RePEc:wii:wpaper:99
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zadia M. Feliciano & Robert E. Lipsey, 1999. "Foreign Ownership and Wages in the United States, 1987 - 1992," NBER Working Papers 6923, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Magnus Blomström & Ari Kokko & Mario Zejan, 2000. "Multinational Corporations and Spillovers," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Foreign Direct Investment, chapter 8, pages 101-133, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Brian Aitken & Ann Harrison & Robert E. Lipsey, 2022. "Wages and foreign ownership A comparative study of Mexico, Venezuela, and the United States," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Globalization, Firms, and Workers, chapter 4, pages 61-87, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. repec:bla:jecsur:v:12:y:1998:i:3:p:247-77 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Roger Bandick & Patrik Karpaty, 2007. "Foreign Acquisition and Employment Effects in Swedish Manufacturing," Discussion Papers 07/35, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Asongu, Simplice A., 2017. "Assessing marginal, threshold, and net effects of financial globalisation on financial development in Africa," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 103-114.
    2. Amendolagine, Vito & Prota, Francesco, 2021. "Bilateral investment treaties and backward linkages in Sub-Saharan Africa," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 172-185.
    3. Sotiris Blanas & Adnan Seric & Christian Viegelahn, 2019. "Job Quality, FDI and Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Firm-Level Data," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(5), pages 1287-1317, December.
    4. Simplice A. Asongu & Pritam Singh & Sara Le Roux, 2018. "Fighting Software Piracy: Some Global Conditional Policy Instruments," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 175-189, September.
    5. Simplice Asongu & Lieven De Moor, 2015. "Financial globalisation and financial development in Africa: assessing marginal, threshold and net effects," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 15/040, African Governance and Development Institute..
    6. Galina Besstremyannaya & Sergei Golovan, 2019. "Reconsideration of a simple approach to quantile regression for panel data: a comment on the Canay (2011) fixed effects estimator," Working Papers w0249, New Economic School (NES).
    7. Livini Donath & Oliver Morrissey & Trudy Owens, 2021. "Pay period and the distributional effect of education on earnings: Evidence from recentered influence function," Discussion Papers 2021-02, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    8. Rod Falvey & Neil Foster-McGregor, 2017. "Heterogeneous effects of bilateral investment treaties," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 153(4), pages 631-656, November.
    9. Ahmed Fayez Abdelgouad & Christian Pfeifer & John P Weche Gelübcke, 2015. "Ownership structure and firm performance in the Egyptian manufacturing sector," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(4), pages 2197-2212.
    10. Galina Besstremyannaya & Sergei Golovan, 2019. "Reconsideration of a simple approach to quantile regression for panel data: a comment on the Canay (2011) fixed effects estimator," Working Papers w0249, Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR).
    11. Abegaz, Melaku & Nene, Gibson, 2022. "Export agglomeration economies in Sub-Saharan Africa manufacturing and service sectors," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 40-51.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    foreign ownership; employment; wage premium;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business

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