Exports and Job Training

This paper examines whether export participation matters for job training, drawing on longitudinal worker-firm data for Brazilian manufacturing linked with detailed records on training activity from the main provider. Using industry-specific exchange-rate movements to generate exogenous variation in export status at the firm level, we find that export participation tends to increase the share of workers who receive technical upgrading. We also provide evidence that technical upgrading has positive returns to trainees within exporting firms. These results support the hypothesis that exporting requires skill upgrading, and suggest that this is partially achieved by training firms' existing workforce.