Export and Labor market outcomes: A supply chain perspective, evidence from Vietnam

Are the labor market changes from exports specific to exporting industries, or do they dissipate throughout the economy? To analyze this question, we study the case of Vietnam. Vietnam exported a total of $356B, making it the number 18 exporter in the world in 2021. Recent studies show provinces in Vietnam with greater exposure to tariff reductions observe greater rates of poverty decline and gains in wages and employment. We extend this literature by estimating the impact of exports propagated through domestic production linkages in Vietnam between 2010 and 2019. We find that higher export exposure leads to higher employment rate, lower inactivity, and an increase in female participation in the labor force. Furthermore, the empirical results also show that export increases wages and income as well as closes the gender wage gap and the college degree premium. Most of these results are larger in magnitude and different in direction of impact when accounting for input-output production structure of the economy underscoring the contributions of non-traded industries to export markets