Linkages Between Employment and Net FDI Inflow: Insights from Individual as Well as Panel Data for Emerging South Asian Labour Market

Abstract

In emerging labour market, particularly, the direct and indirect association between employment level and foreign direct investment (FDI) in a dynamic economy is non-deniable. Like private and public investments, FDI promotes employment generating agenda and at the same time, sound employment scenario of an economy attracts FDI to inflow. Under this backdrop, the present study attempts to examine whether employment and net FDI inflow have long-run associations and short-run dynamics in South Asian economies for the period 1991–2016. Applying cointegration and Granger causality tests for individual country level and panel cointegration, vector error correction and Wald test on the two standardized variables—employment–population ratio and per capita net FDI inflow—reveal that the two indicators have cointegrating relations for Bangladesh and Nepal and FDI makes a cause to employment generation in Bangladesh only. Further, the panel data exercise shows the existence of long-run or equilibrium relations linking the two indicators without significant error correction results. The Wald test results show that there is short-run causality working from employment ratio to per capita FDI and vice versa. The study, thus, prescribes for ensuring quality environment in the concerned domestic economies of the region so that employment opportunities invite FDI inflow to their territories.