Dual Edge of Export Quality: Does it Boost Employment? Insights from OECD and G20 Countries

Dual Edge of Export Quality: Does it Boost Employment? Insights from OECD and G20 Countries | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Dual Edge of Export Quality: Does it Boost Employment? Insights from OECD and G20 Countries Manish Kumar Sharma, Anwesha Aditya This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5901564/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The quality of traded goods is crucial for entering into high-income markets and for the continuously growing and sustained earning of export revenues. However, many countries are constrained by poor quality and often face rejections and are simultaneously battling with the unemployment problem as well. While facing quality-related market entry barriers, they try to improve export quality, and an important question arises that ‘how the export quality improvement will impact their labour market?’ which is largely unexplored in existing literature. Thus, this research investigates how export quality (using three alternate indicators) impacts aggregate employment as well as skill level employment (low, high, semi and unskilled) after taking into account other potential determinants of employment, for 45 countries from G20 and OECD for the period 1990–2019. The GMM dynamic panel estimation reveals that higher export quality significantly boosts both aggregate employment and employment for low-and high-skilled workers but contrasting and more nuanced results are obtained for other skill level workers and developed and developing countries. The findings have valuable policy implications for achieving economic resilience and designing long-term employment friendly trade policies through strategic export quality improvements. Subject classification codes: F16, F10, F66, J23, J24, O33 International Economics export quality employment skill composition Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5901564","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":407024978,"identity":"76ad3229-8f2f-47fd-8564-e5a3bcfd2154","order_by":0,"name":"Manish Kumar Sharma","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA8ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYHACAyBOAJMMDBVAzMzcQIqWMyAtjKRoYWwDk/i18Lcf3vaBMSfN3pz97NMNP+fVRvO3A7X8qNiGU4vEmbTiGYzbchJ39qSb3ezddjx3xmHGBsaeM7fxuCrHmIFxW0WCwYE0thu8247lNgC1MDO24dHC/wasxd7g/DO2m3/nHMudT1CLBNiWHMYNN9LYbvM21ORuIKRF4sazYobEbWmJG248Y7stc+xA7kagloP4/MLfn7yZ4eO2ZKDD0thuvqmpy513/vDBBz8qcGsBgwQE8zCYPIBfPSqoI0XxKBgFo2AUjBAAANcPXYySksGzAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2897-7553","institution":"Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Manish","middleName":"Kumar","lastName":"Sharma","suffix":""},{"id":407024979,"identity":"19de36d3-ebb0-4c7a-b3d6-353bb1f5ad72","order_by":1,"name":"Anwesha Aditya","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6663-604X","institution":"Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anwesha","middleName":"","lastName":"Aditya","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-01-25 12:17:48","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5901564/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5901564/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":75925219,"identity":"264f9056-fcf0-4a04-ba05-48528a7dda4c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-02-10 15:08:57","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":685324,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"FinalManuscriptwithLR25.01.2025.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5901564/v1_covered_1c0f562f-1875-4bb4-b43c-481b65cac29f.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eDual Edge of Export Quality: Does it Boost Employment? Insights from OECD and G20 Countries\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"export quality, employment, skill composition","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5901564/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5901564/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe quality of traded goods is crucial for entering into high-income markets and for the continuously growing and sustained earning of export revenues. However, many countries are constrained by poor quality and often face rejections and are simultaneously battling with the unemployment problem as well. While facing quality-related market entry barriers, they try to improve export quality, and an important question arises that ‘how the export quality improvement will impact their labour market?’ which is largely unexplored in existing literature. Thus, this research investigates how export quality (using three alternate indicators) impacts aggregate employment as well as skill level employment (low, high, semi and unskilled) after taking into account other potential determinants of employment, for 45 countries from G20 and OECD for the period 1990–2019. The GMM dynamic panel estimation reveals that higher export quality significantly boosts both aggregate employment and employment for low-and high-skilled workers but contrasting and more nuanced results are obtained for other skill level workers and developed and developing countries. The findings have valuable policy implications for achieving economic resilience and designing long-term employment friendly trade policies through strategic export quality improvements.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSubject classification codes: F16, F10, F66, J23, J24, O33\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Dual Edge of Export Quality: Does it Boost Employment? Insights from OECD and G20 Countries","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-01-28 02:05:27","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5901564/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"e0038cd1-e76a-436c-874d-154196043ea9","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 28th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":43408371,"name":"International Economics"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-01-28T02:05:27+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-01-28 02:05:27","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-5901564","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5901564","identity":"rs-5901564","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}