贸易开放与年龄收入差距:基于双重技能要素禀赋视角

Trade Openness and Age Differences in Income from the Perspective of Dual-Skill Factor Endowment

本文以不同年龄的收入差异作为切入点,从贸易开放角度剖析了大龄劳动者就业困难的市场原因。我们先构建一个包含贸易成本、技术革新和劳动者双重技能要素的理论模型,厘清了出口扩张影响年龄收入差异的理论机制,在此基础上利用1992-2014年中国城镇住户调查数据,以中国加入世界贸易组织带来的贸易政策不确定性下降作为出口扩张的典型事件,验证了出口扩张通过提升“迭代型”相对“经验型”技能要素的回报,提升(降低)年轻(大龄)劳动者的相对收入。此外,我们还发现在老龄化更严重的地区中,出口扩张提升年轻劳动者相对收入的幅度较小;出口扩张对年龄收入差异的影响更多体现在产业内和职业内,并未体现出性别差异。

Older people often face difficulties finding work in the Chinese labour market.This paper considers age differences in incomes and analyses the reasons for the employment difficulties of older people from the perspective of trade openness.First,it constructs a theoretical model that includes trade costs,technological innovation and the dual skill factor endowment of employees,and it clarifies the mechanism of trade liberalisation that affects the income-age structure.Based on China's urban household survey data from between 1992 and 2014,it then takes the decrease in trade policy uncertainty caused by China's accession to the WTO as a typical export expansion event and verifies that trade expansion brings about an increase(decrease)in the relative income of young(older)workers through an increase in the return of the experiential skill factor endowment relative to the iterative skill factor endowment.In addition,in regions with more severe ageing,export expansion has less impact on the relative income of young workers.The impact of trade liberalisation on the age structure of income is more reflected in the same industries and occupations but does not reflect gender differences.The study helps to fully exploit the market potential of older workers and better cope with the issue of population ageing.