Trade, Competition, and the Gender Composition of Employment: Evidence from Viet Nam

As countries in Asia and the Pacific continue to integrate into the global economy, what are the implications for women’s labor market participation in these countries? The literature on international trade considers the effects of import competition and export orientation on gender gaps in employment and earnings, while the literature on labor economics considers whether more competition implies an increase in women’s employment, as gender discrimination may be harder to sustain if firms are to remain profitable amid rising competition. Using a panel of Vietnamese firms from 2005 to 2018, we look at factors affecting women’s employment in Viet Nam during this time of change. We find that (i) exporting and foreign-owned firms have higher shares of female labor, and (ii) firms with higher shares of female labor were more likely to survive during this increasingly competitive period. Overall, we see an increase in formal employment for Vietnamese women during 2005–2018.