Structural Transformation and Manufacturing Employment

This chapter explores the interrelationships between the growth of value added, employment, and labour productivity at the sub-sector level in the manufacturing sector, with a focus on large countries. Structural change in eighteen manufacturing industries (classified into early, middle and late industries) is estimated using GDP per capita as the independent variable and one of the following three—value added per capita, employment-population ratio (EP ratio), and labour productivity—as the dependent variable. The results reveal three key challenges that must be addressed during manufacturing development in order to create manufacturing jobs, increase the wage level, and sustain the manufacturing employment or slow its pace of decline. One is to develop the wearing apparel industry (including fur and leather products and footwear), and another is to determine which industries are likely to maintain the given level of employment or slow pace of employment decline.