South Asia’s economy is growing faster than any other region in the world. But it remains a development paradox. The exceptionally high economic growth shrunk the number of poor and created modest job growth. But many South Asians still lack a regular job in the formal economy, and there are still huge differences in pay. Every month, almost one million additional jobs are needed.

This book, Exports to Jobs: Boosting the Gains from Trade in South Asia, breaks new ground by examining the impact of turning to more exports on wages, jobs, and the creation of more regular jobs in South Asia. Traditionally, economic research on the relationship between globalization and labor markets has focused on the impact of falling tariffs or rising imports. There are few studies looking at the growth of labor market opportunities that follow from exports. This report uses a novel way to estimate the relationship between exports and their effect on labor markets. It combines householdlevel or worker-level surveys with trade data from India and Sri Lanka to construct a unique dataset. In doing so, this book contributes to our understanding of the impact of big changes in trade and bridges the gap between academic research and informed policy making by governments. The findings provide key insights about the relationship between international trade and local labor markets. They show that increasing exports leads to higher wages and jobs, and also leads to more formal jobs for women.