Abstract

Over the past decades, imports as well as exports have increased substantially. In this paper, we analyze how this has shaped the wage structure in Germany. We distinguish between importing and exporting industries. We first analyze how importing industries cope with the increased competition from imports, and ask which firms and workers in these industries are affected most. We then turn to exporting industries which now can sell to wider markets due to increased exports, and again ask which firms and workers in these industries are affected the most.