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Are ICT displacing workers in the short run? Evidence from seven European countries

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  • Pantea, Smaranda
  • Sabadash, Anna
  • Biagi, Federico

Abstract

This paper examines the short run labour substitution effects of using ICT at firm-level in the manufacturing and services sectors in seven European countries, during the period 2007–2010. The data come from a unique dataset provided by the ESSLait Project on Linking Microdata, which contains internationally comparable data based on the production statistics linked at firm level with the novel ICT usage indicators. We adopt a standard conditional labour demand model and control for unobservable time-invariant firm-specific effects. The results show that ICT use has a statistically insignificant labour substitution effect and this effect is robust across countries, sectors and measures of ICT use. Our findings suggest that increased use of ICT within firms does not reduce the numbers of workers they employ.

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  • Pantea, Smaranda & Sabadash, Anna & Biagi, Federico, 2017. "Are ICT displacing workers in the short run? Evidence from seven European countries," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 36-44.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:iepoli:v:39:y:2017:i:c:p:36-44
    DOI: 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2017.03.002
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    3. Martin Falk & Eva Hagsten, 2018. "Employment impacts of market novelty sales: evidence for nine European Countries," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 8(2), pages 119-137, June.
    4. Jasmine Mondolo, 2022. "The composite link between technological change and employment: A survey of the literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 1027-1068, September.
    5. Siragusa, Chiara & Seghezzi, Arianna & Tumino, Angela & Mangiaracina, Riccardo, 2021. "Assessing the impact of B2C e-commerce in the apparel industry: A logistics perspective," Chapters from the Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), in: Jahn, Carlos & Kersten, Wolfgang & Ringle, Christian M. (ed.), Adapting to the Future: Maritime and City Logistics in the Context of Digitalization and Sustainability. Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conf, volume 32, pages 571-597, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management.
    6. Egwakhe A. J. & Amos N. B. & Nicodemus T., 2021. "Can Technology Transfer Stimulate Labour Productivity: Experience from Nigeria Automobile Sector," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 15(4), pages 1-1, July.
    7. Hongya Li & Laiqun Jin & Yuanyao Ding, 2019. "Innovation, Mark-Up and Firm Growth: Evidence from China’s New Generation IT Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-19, April.
    8. Martin Falk & Eva Hagsten, 2021. "Innovation intensity and skills in firms across five European countries," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(3), pages 371-394, September.
    9. Maarten Goos & Melanie Arntz & Ulrich Zierahn & Terry Gregory & Stephanie Carretero Gomez & Ignacio Gonzalez Vazquez & Koen Jonkers, 2019. "The Impact of Technological Innovation on the Future of Work," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2019-03, Joint Research Centre.
    10. Chenhui Ding & Xiaoming Song & Yingchun Xing & Yuxuan Wang, 2023. "Bilateral Effects of the Digital Economy on Manufacturing Employment: Substitution Effect or Creation Effect?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-22, October.
    11. Takita, Toshiaki, 2017. "Information Value and Interregional Input-Output Structure," 14th ITS Asia-Pacific Regional Conference, Kyoto 2017: Mapping ICT into Transformation for the Next Information Society 168545, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    12. Irene Bertschek & Michael Polder & Patrick Schulte, 2019. "ICT and resilience in times of crisis: evidence from cross-country micro moments data," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(8), pages 759-774, November.
    13. Van Roy, Vincent & Vértesy, Dániel & Vivarelli, Marco, 2018. "Technology and employment: Mass unemployment or job creation? Empirical evidence from European patenting firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1762-1776.
    14. Kerstin Hotte & Melline Somers & Angelos Theodorakopoulos, 2022. "Technology and jobs: A systematic literature review," Papers 2204.01296, arXiv.org.
    15. Filippo Pusterla & Thomas Bolli, 2019. "Is Technological Change Really Skills-Biased? Firm-level Evidence of the Complementarities between ICT and Workers’ Education," KOF Working papers 19-468, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    16. Keraga, Mezid N. & Stephan, Andreas, 2023. "Does innovation stimulate employment in Africa? New firm-level evidence from the Worldbank Enterprise Survey," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 494, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labour demand; Technological change; ICT; Employment; Productivity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software

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