Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/107326 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 5122
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
This paper combines representative worker-level data that cover time-varying job-level task characteristics of an economy over a long time span with sector-level bilateral trade data for merchandize and services. We carefully create longitudinally consistent workplace characteristics from the German Qualification and Career Survey 1979-2006 and prepare trade flow statistics from varying sources. Four main facts emerge: (i) intermediate inputs constitute a major share of imports, and their relevance grows especially in the early decade; (ii) the German workforce increasingly specializes in workplace activities and job requirements that are typically considered non-offshorable, mainly within and not between sectors and occupations; (iii) the imputed activity and job requirement content of German imports grows relatively more intensive in work characteristics typically considered offshorable; and (iv) labour-market institutions at German trade partners are largely unrelated to the changing task content of German imports but German sector-level outcomes exhibit some covariation consistent with faster task offshoring in sectors exposed to lower labour-market tightness. We discuss policy implications of these findings.
Subjects: 
trade in tasks
offshoring
demand for labour
labour force survey
JEL: 
F16
F14
J23
J24
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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