The entry into force of RCEP has deepened economic and trade cooperation among member countries and promoted cross-border labor mobility. However, existing studies have paid little attention to the relationship between China's labor service exports to RCEP member countries and its import and export trade. This paper constructs a two-way fixed effects model based on panel data of RCEP countries (excluding China) from 2010 to 2024. In the model, the dependent variable is China’s total export trade to other RCEP countries, the core explanatory variable is China’s labor export to other RCEP countries, the dummy variable indicates whether the RCEP agreement has officially entered into force, and the control variables include per capita gross national product (GNP), China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), among others. The study finds a significant positive correlation between China’s labor export to RCEP countries and its export trade, indicating a complementary relationship between the two. Moreover, the entry into force of the RCEP agreement strengthens the positive effect of China’s labor export on its export trade. The conclusions of this paper provide a theoretical basis for China to reasonably formulate relevant foreign economic and trade policies and to promote the high-quality development of its foreign labor services.
Weilei Guo (Tue,) studied this question.