The Protection of Unskilled Labor in the United States Manufacturing Industries: Further Evidence

Abstract

This paper investigates whether all United States trade distortions protect unskilled labor in domestic manufacturing industries. Empirical tests of the relationship between U.S. protection levels and unskilled-labor intensity have been conducted by Ball (1967) and Cheh (1976). Two features of the present study are unique. First, the analysis is expanded to include protection from international transportation charges which has been shown to account for a large part of the total protection accorded to import-competing activities.1 Their inclusion is a necessary step in attempts to assess propositions concerning a nation's total protective structure. Second, unlike previous studies, this investigation pairs nominal and effective protection rates from all trade barriers with the theoretically correct labor intensity measures. If all trade distortions are found to bear more heavily on unskilled-labor-intensive imports, this result will contribute to our understanding of the income distributional impact of trade barrier structure and will also lend support to Travis's (1964, 1968, 1972) contention that U.S. trade policy is partially responsible for the Leontief scarce-factor paradox.