RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Import Competition and the Gender Employment Gap in China
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 1220-11399R3
DO 10.3368/jhr.1220-11399R3
A1 Wang, Feicheng
A1 Kis-Katos, Krisztina
A1 Zhou, Minghai
YR 2022
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2022/07/06/jhr.1220-11399R3.abstract
AB Combining data from China’s population and firm censuses between 1990 and 2005, this paper relates prefecture-level employment by gender to the regionalized measure of exposure to tariff reductions. We find that increasing import competition kept more females in the workforce, reducing an otherwise growing gender employment gap in the long run. These dynamics were present both in local economies as a whole and among private firms in the formal industrial sector. The gendered employment effects of trade-induced competitive pressures can be attributed to an expansion of femaleintensive industries, a reduction in gender discrimination, and technology upgrades through computerization.