The Labor Market Effects of Offshoring by U.S. Multinational Firms
We use firm-level data on U.S. multinationals to show how offshoring affects domestic employment within and across firms. We introduce a new instrument for offshoring: Bilateral Tax Treaties, which reduce the cost of offshore activities. We find substantial heterogeneity in effects. A 10 percent increase in affiliate employment drives a 1.3 percent increase in employment at the U.S. parent firm, with smaller effects at the industry and regional levels. In contrast, offshoring by vertical multinationals drives declining employment among non-multinationals in the same industry, and firms opening new affiliates exhibit smaller domestic employment growth than those expanding existing affiliates.
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Copy CitationBrian K. Kovak, Lindsay Oldenski, and Nicholas Sly, "The Labor Market Effects of Offshoring by U.S. Multinational Firms," NBER Working Paper 23947 (2017), https://doi.org/10.3386/w23947.Download Citation
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Published Versions
Brian K. Kovak & Lindsay Oldenski & Nicholas Sly, 2021. "The Labor Market Effects of Offshoring by U.S. Multinational Firms," The Review of Economics and Statistics, vol 103(2), pages 381-396. citation courtesy of 
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