Globalization and the labor market: a study of exposed and sheltered jobs in France.

Summary Traditionally, industrial jobs and service jobs have been contrasted. However, the growing interpenetration of industry and services makes this distinction increasingly irrelevant. In an era of globalization, it seems relevant to distinguish between jobs exposed to international competition and those sheltered from it, which are found in both industry and services. This thesis first analyzes the evolution and characteristics of exposed and sheltered jobs in France. What are exposed and sheltered jobs? Do they differ in terms of qualifications, wages, and productivity trends? How are they distributed over the territory? It then studies the interdependencies between these two categories of jobs, by empirically evaluating the spillover effect of exposed jobs on sheltered jobs in the employment zones of metropolitan France. Finally, the study focuses on a sample of employees laid off following the closure of a production site. It attempts to determine whether the risk of redundancy, and the costs associated with it, are higher in the exposed sector than in the sheltered sector.