Jobs and Productivity Growth in Global Value Chains

Using newly developed data, the evolution of job and productivity growth in global value chains (GVCs) is analyzed for 25 low- and middle-income countries. GVC jobs are found to be more productive than non-GVC jobs. Their share in the total labor force is small, in particular for low-income countries. Growth in GVC jobs varies widely across countries in the period 2000–2014. Part of this can be accounted for by differences in the type of consumer market served. A bigger part is accounted for by the speed with which countries expand activities within supply chains, measured by their shares in GVC value added. Expansion in GVCs is positively correlated with labor productivity across countries as well as over time within GVCs.