Outward FDI and home employment. Is Italy experiencing skill upgrading?Gli effetti dell'investimento estero sulla domanda di lavoro in Italia

The contribution of the present paper to the literature investigating the effects of outward FDI on the home country employment and skill composition is twofold. First, by considering the “industrial region” as unit of the analysis, it allows to capture both direct and indirect effects of foreign production on the parent company’s environment. Second, by modelling separately the demand for high and low skilled workers, it allows to assess whether outward FDI can be held responsible for any skill upgrading in the home country. Empirical evidence refers to the Italian case throughout the period 1996-2002, and shows that outward FDI has a significant negative impact upon the demand for low skilled workers in the parent company’s “industrial region”, but this is true only for FDI in lower wage (namely, CEE) countries. Conversely, the demand for high skilled workers in the MNE’s industrial region does not seem to be influenced by outward FDI