Effects of Commodity Trade Structure Variations on Labor’ s Share of Income in China

Zhang Xiangwei  and Lu Yunhang
School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Commerce and Industry, Hangzhou, China

Abstract: Proceeding from trade structure variations, this paper provides a new perspective on the study of the share of labor income in China. China’s commodity trade structure has experienced a step change in recent years. According to theoretical analysis, trade exerts not only a direct effect on the share of labor income through international division of labor and specialization but also an indirect effect through factor intensity variations and technology progress bias. Empirical study discovered that export has a significant negative effect on the share of China’s labor income while import has a positive effect. Import and export have different levels and directions of effect on sectors with different factor intensity.
Keywords: share of labor income, trade structure, technology progress, factor intensity

¥0.01加入购物车