The Impact of Globalization and Technology Transfer on Manufacturing Employment and Skills in Ethiopia

Arbeitspapier

There is a dearth of research on the impact of technological change on employment in the context of least developed countries (LDCs) embarking on globalization, which enhances the prospect of direct technological imports or embodied technological transfer. Using a sample of 1,940 enterprises from Ethiopia over the period 1996-2004 and deploying System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM-SYS), this paper attempts to establish the nature of manufacturing employment in Ethiopia and the role played by trade and FDI in determining employment. The empirical results obtained lend support to globalization having a labour-augmenting effect, increasing total manufacturing employment. The two-equation dynamic framework implemented to analyse enterprise-level employment trends by skill level provides some evidence of skill-bias specific to enterprises with higher share of foreign ownership and those that that are located in the vicinity of the capital city. Exporters are not found to benefit from learning by exporting.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 7820

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes ; Trade and Labor Market Interactions ; Industry Studies: Manufacturing: General ; Economywide Country Studies: Africa ; Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models: Panel Data Models; Spatio-temporal Models
• Subject: technological change ; trade ; FDI ; globalization ; skills ; employment ; Ethiopia

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Haile, Getinet Astatike ; Srour, Ilina ; Vivarelli, Marco
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2013

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/90012
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET