The China trade shock and the European Union's employment

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the effect of trade with China on the European Union's industrial and regional employment. Built on a canonical multi-country Ricardian model, we identify and estimate the employment reallocation effect across fifteen EU countries with specific discussions on three channels: import penetration, direct export, and third-market competition vis-à-vis China. Data suggest that the adverse effects stemming from the import penetration and the third-market competition quantitatively dominate the positive effect from the export channel for the effect on the EU. In particular, the third-market competition channel is a key channel for understanding the impact of China trade shock on the EU market, accounting for about 46% and 36% of the total negative effect at the industry level and region level, respectively. Moreover, the third-market competition channel particularly influenced the relative employment growth of the worst-affected industries in the European market.