This paper examines the determinants of the demand for female workers, focusing on the role of information and communication technology (ICT) and offshoring. Estimating a system of variable factor demands for manufacturing industries between 1980 and 2011, we find that, whereas the ICT capital stock has significantly positive effects on the demand for low-, middle-high-, and high-skilled female workers, it has significantly negative effects on the demand for middle-low-skilled female workers. In contrast, offshoring has insignificant effects on the demand for female workers, which suggests that offshoring is at least neutral on the demand for female workers.

This paper examines the competitiveness of industries in six Asian countries—China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan—using the World Input–Output Database tables from 1995 to 2011. Competitiveness is measured by the value-added that industries contribute to the production of final goods, which we refer to as global value chain (GVC) income, rather than by gross exports. We find that, unlike EU countries, Asian countries have generally been able to combine increasing GVC job opportunities with a rise in real income. The GVC income in Asian countries presents a different picture to that in European countries.

This paper examines the effects of exports on employment in China, Indonesia, Japan, and Korea, using the World Input-Output Database for the period from 1995 to 2009. One of the major findings is that, although more than 80 percent of exports in the four study countries are from manufacturing industries, a significant number of workers in non-manufacturing industries depend upon manufacturing exports through vertical inter-industry linkages. An implication is that even in cases where an industry is not particularly export-oriented through its reliance on the export of final goods, the industry may still be subject to potential effects—positive or negative—linked to changes in export demand.