Seminar Series “Macroeconomics and Labor Markets” on 30 January 2024

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PantherMedia / Bernd Schmidt

We are pleased to invite you to the seminar series on “Macroeconomics and Labor Markets“ organized by the Chair of Macroeconomics at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Prof. Merkl, the Chair of Global Governance and International Trade at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Prof. Moser, and the Competence Field Macroeconomics of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB). Researchers of both institutions, as well as national and international guests, present their current work at the intersection of labor- and macroeconomics.

The next seminar will be held on Tuesday, January 30, 12 noon to 1.30 (German time) via Zoom.

Andrea Ariu (University of Milan) will talk about

“Service Imports, Workforce Composition, and Firm Performance: Evidence from Finnish Microdata” (joint work with Katariina Nilsson Hakkala, J. Bradford Jensen, and Saara Tamminen).

Abstract:

This paper uses unique Finnish firm-level micro data on service imports, work- force composition, and firm characteristics to examine changes in employment composition and performance of Finnish service importers during a period of a significant increase in services imports (2002-2012). We use world service export supply shocks, which we allocate to firms based on their highly specialized service input structure, as an instrument to identify the impact of service offshoring. We find that firms that increase imports of service inputs reduce employment of low-skill service workers, increase employment of (high-skilled) managers and improve their performance in terms of sales (turnover), assets, service exports, and firm survival. The employment composition and performance responses to service imports differ across firms in the manufacturing sector and those in the service sector.