Export-sustained employment: accounting for exporter-heterogeneity in input–output tables

Abstract

ABSTRACT Exports matter for domestic employment in both export-producing firms and upstream suppliers. Their total effect can be captured through an input–output-based indicator of export-sustained employment. However, as industry classifications used in regular input–output tables are based on product similarity, they fail to account for within-industry technological heterogeneity between exporters and other firms, which may lead to a bias in results for export-sustained employment. In this paper, we describe the breakdown of manufacturing industries into export-oriented and domestic-oriented firms in Belgian input–output tables and employment data based on detailed firm-level data for industry totals and input–output structures. Based on the resulting export-heterogeneous tables, we find that 585,000 jobs or 13% of economy-wide employment in Belgium is sustained by manufacturing exports. This is overestimated by 4% with regular tables. Moreover, we identify who contributes to and who gains from exports for groups of firms rather than aggregated industries.