Does Industrial Employment React to Movements in the Real Exchange Rate? An Empirical Analysis for Colombia, 2000-2010

Abstract

To determine the effect of the real exchange rate on Colombia’s industrial employment and 59 industrial sectors for the period 2000-2010, we used the generalized method of moments of Arellano and Bond (1991) and data from the Annual Manufacturing Survey of the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE). Our findings reveal that a real appreciation of the Colombian peso decreases the country’s manufacturing employment, and disaggregation by industrial sector shows that a real appreciation of the Colombian peso had a negative impact on manufacturing employment in 18 industrial sectors and a positive impact in seven.