Exporter productivity premium for European SMEs

Estimates based on robust regression methods show that the level of labour productivity of exporting small- and medium-sized entreprises (SMEs) is 13 percentage points higher than that of nonexporting ones in a given industry and country. The data are based on the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) for 19 European countries with about 110 000 firms for the year 2010. The exporter productivity premium is highest in manufacturing, and professional and business services. Furthermore, SMEs that export to both the European and non-European markets exhibit a 19% higher level of labour productivity than nonexporting firms.