IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v159y2022i2d10.1007_s11205-021-02768-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Comprehensive Taxonomy of Tasks for Assessing the Impact of New Technologies on Work

Author

Listed:
  • Enrique Fernández-Macías

    (European Commission – Joint Research Centre)

  • Martina Bisello

    (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions)

Abstract

In recent years, the increasing concern about the labour market implications of technological change has led economists to look in more detail at the structure of work content and job tasks. Incorporating insights from other traditions of task analysis, in particular from the labour process approach, as well as from recent research on skills, work organisation and occupational change, in this paper we propose a comprehensive and detailed taxonomy of tasks. Going beyond existing broad classifications, our taxonomy aims at connecting the substantive content of work with its organisational context by answering two key questions: what do people do at work and how do they do their work? For illustrative purposes, we show how our approach allows a better understanding of the impact of new technologies on work, by accounting for relevant ongoing transformations such as the diffusion of artificial intelligence and the unfolding of digital labour platforms.

Suggested Citation

  • Enrique Fernández-Macías & Martina Bisello, 2022. "A Comprehensive Taxonomy of Tasks for Assessing the Impact of New Technologies on Work," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 821-841, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:159:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-021-02768-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-021-02768-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-021-02768-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-021-02768-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Edward E Leamer & Michael Storper, 2001. "The Economic Geography of the Internet Age," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 32(4), pages 641-665, December.
    2. Lisa E. Cohen, 2013. "Assembling Jobs: A Model of How Tasks Are Bundled Into and Across Jobs," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 432-454, April.
    3. Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2010. "Explaining Job Polarization in Europe: The Roles of Technology, Globalization and Institutions," CEP Discussion Papers dp1026, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    4. Alexandra Spitz-Oener, 2006. "Technical Change, Job Tasks, and Rising Educational Demands: Looking outside the Wage Structure," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(2), pages 235-270, April.
    5. Autor, David H., 2013. "The "task approach" to labor markets : an overview," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 46(3), pages 185-199.
    6. Green, Francis, 2013. "Skills and Skilled Work: An Economic and Social Analysis," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199642854.
    7. Philippe Aghion & Benjamin F. Jones & Charles I. Jones, 2018. "Artificial Intelligence and Economic Growth," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Artificial Intelligence: An Agenda, pages 237-282, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. David H. Autor & Frank Levy & Richard J. Murnane, 2003. "The skill content of recent technological change: an empirical exploration," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Nov.
    9. Timothy F. Bresnahan & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2002. "Information Technology, Workplace Organization, and the Demand for Skilled Labor: Firm-Level Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 339-376.
    10. Dingel, Jonathan I. & Neiman, Brent, 2020. "How many jobs can be done at home?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    11. Esping-Andersen, Gosta, 1999. "Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198742005.
    12. Maarten Goos & Alan Manning, 2007. "Lousy and Lovely Jobs: The Rising Polarization of Work in Britain," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(1), pages 118-133, February.
    13. David H. Autor & Michael J. Handel, 2013. "Putting Tasks to the Test: Human Capital, Job Tasks, and Wages," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(S1), pages 59-96.
    14. Alan S. Blinder, 2009. "How Many US Jobs Might be Offshorable?," World Economics, World Economics, 1 Ivory Square, Plantation Wharf, London, United Kingdom, SW11 3UE, vol. 10(2), pages 41-78, April.
    15. Arntz, Melanie & Gregory, Terry & Zierahn, Ulrich, 2017. "Revisiting the risk of automation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 157-160.
    16. Ljubica Nedelkoska & Glenda Quintini, 2018. "Automation, skills use and training," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 202, OECD Publishing.
    17. Nathalie Greenan, 2003. "Organisational change, technology, employment and skills: an empirical study of French manufacturing," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 27(2), pages 287-316, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Valeria Cirillo & Matteo Rinaldini & Maria Enrica Virgillito & Maria Luisa Divella & Caterina Manicardi & Francesco Sabato Massimo & Armanda Cetrulo & Eleonora Costantini & Angelo Moro & Jacopo Stacci, 2022. "Case studies of automation in services," Working Papers hal-03899186, HAL.
    2. Nikolova, Milena & Lepinteur, Anthony & Cnossen, Femke, 2023. "Just Another Cog in the Machine? A Worker-Level View of Robotization and Tasks," IZA Discussion Papers 16610, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Giorgio Cutuli & Alessio Tomelleri, 2023. "Returns to digital skills use, temporary employment, and trade unions in European labour markets," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 29(4), pages 393-413, December.
    4. Saverio Minardi & Carla Hornberg & Paolo Barbieri & Heike Solga, 2023. "The link between computer use and job satisfaction: The mediating role of job tasks and task discretion," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(4), pages 796-831, December.
    5. Marialuisa Divella & Alessia Lo Turco & Alessandro Sterlacchini, 2023. "Local labour tasks and patenting in US commuting zones," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(5), pages 1097-1119.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Enrique Fernandez-Macias & Martina Bisello, 2020. "A Taxonomy of Tasks for Assessing the Impact of New Technologies on Work," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2020-04, Joint Research Centre.
    2. Cirillo, Valeria & Evangelista, Rinaldo & Guarascio, Dario & Sostero, Matteo, 2021. "Digitalization, routineness and employment: An exploration on Italian task-based data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    3. Francis Green, 2012. "Employee Involvement, Technology and Evolution in Job Skills: A Task-Based Analysis," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(1), pages 36-67, January.
    4. Consoli, Davide & Marin, Giovanni & Rentocchini, Francesco & Vona, Francesco, 2023. "Routinization, within-occupation task changes and long-run employment dynamics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    5. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/13fti1jo4t8vjpe6ko3qrrv2nv is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Cristian Bonavida & Irene Brambilla & Leonardo Gasparini, 2021. "Automatización y Pandemia: Amenazas sobre el Empleo en América Latina," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0288, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    7. Martina Bisello & Eleonora Peruffo & Enrique Fernandez-Macias & Riccardo Rinaldi, 2019. "How computerisation is transforming jobs: Evidence from the European Working Conditions Survey," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2019-02, Joint Research Centre.
    8. Dengler, Katharina & Matthes, Britta, 2018. "The impacts of digital transformation on the labour market: Substitution potentials of occupations in Germany," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 304-316.
    9. Andy Dickerson & Damon Morris, 2019. "The Changing Demand for Skills in the UK," CVER Research Papers 020, Centre for Vocational Education Research.
    10. 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.
    11. Dengler, Katharina & Matthes, Britta & Paulus, Wiebke, 2014. "Occupational Tasks in the German Labour Market : an alternative measurement on the basis of an expert database," FDZ Methodenreport 201412_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    12. Emil Mihaylov & Kea Tijdens, 2019. "Measuring the Routine and Non-Routine Task Content of 427 Four-Digit ISCO-08 Occupations," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 19-035/IV, Tinbergen Institute.
    13. Britta Matthes & Bernhard Christoph & Florian Janik & Michael Ruland, 2014. "Collecting information on job tasks—an instrument to measure tasks required at the workplace in a multi-topic survey [Die Erfassung von Job-Tasks in persönlichen Befragungen. Ein neues Instrument z," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 47(4), pages 273-297, December.
    14. Silvia Vannutelli & Sergio Scicchitano & Marco Biagetti, 2022. "Routine-biased technological change and wage inequality: do workers’ perceptions matter?," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(3), pages 409-450, September.
    15. Dirk Antonczyk & Thomas DeLeire & Bernd Fitzenberger, 2018. "Polarization and Rising Wage Inequality: Comparing the U.S. and Germany," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-33, April.
    16. Davide Consoli & Francesco Vona & Francesco Rentocchini, 2016. "That was then, this is now: skills and routinization in the 2000s," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(5), pages 847-866.
    17. Goos, Maarten & Rademakers, Emilie & Röttger, Ronja, 2021. "Routine-Biased technical change: Individual-Level evidence from a plant closure," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    18. Leonardo Gasparini & Irene Brambilla & Guillermo Falcone & Carlo Lombardo & Andrés César, 2021. "Routinization and Employment: Evidence for Latin America," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0276, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    19. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/2ajduu0gqt9ho8h2tavbin6ops is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Raquel Sebastian, 2018. "Explaining job polarisation in Spain from a task perspective," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 215-248, June.
    21. Gregory, Terry & Salomons, Anna & Zierahn, Ulrich, 2016. "Racing With or Against the Machine? Evidence from Europe," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145843, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    22. Acemoglu, Daron & Autor, David, 2011. "Skills, Tasks and Technologies: Implications for Employment and Earnings," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 12, pages 1043-1171, Elsevier.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:159:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-021-02768-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.