Import Competition and Employment in Japan: Plant Startup, Shutdown and Product Changes

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between import competition and employment during and after the recent Bubble period in Japan. Gross job flow data are combined with import data for 334 four‐digit manufacturing industries. The estimates demonstrate that various modes of employment adjustment respond differently to changes in import prices. Job creation/destruction associated with plant startups/shutdowns was significantly sens‐itive to import competition. Among plants continuously operating, job creation during the Bubble boom by plants that altered their product mix across industries was responsive to import price fluctuations, while job flows at plants that remained within the same industries were not.

Who causes SMEs to suffer? An empirical analysis on the trade of SME products in Japan

“…Moreover, the 'import penetration ratio' can be calculated using shipment value and trade value by industry. In the Japanese case, a series of studies such as done by Tomiura and Uchida (2001), Tomiura (2003), and Tomiura (2004) are examples which prepare a connected database between 4 -digit industrial code for Census of Manufactures and HS 9 -digit code for Trade Statistics 2) .…”