Export destinations and the skill utilization —Evidence from micro-level data of Chinese manufacturing enterprises

From the perspective of skills utilization, this paper establishes an econometric model according to the expanded theoretical model of export decision and skill composition, adopts a cross-section of micro-level Chinese manufacturing enterprises exporting data, empirically analyze the correlation among export behavior, exports destinations and the firm's skill composition. The empirical results indicate that the average wage and share of nonproduction workers have a significant and positive correlation with the export share of export to high-income countries, as well as the share of male workers and ratio of foreign investment. As the average wage and share of nonproduction workers are proxies of firm's skill composition, the empirical results imply that the more exports to high-income countries, the more skilled worker firms would employ. On the purpose of explaining the phenomenon, this paper further validates the quality upgrading mechanism and destination oriented specific services mechanism stand in China's manufacturing enterprises' exports to high-income destinations. The conclusion provides empirical support and channel interpretation for the export behavior of Chinese manufacturing enterprises.