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Workers' skill level and information technology: evidence from German service firms

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  • Falk, Martin
  • Seim, Katja

Abstract

This paperanalyses the link between human capitaland information technology(IT ) in the service production process. The analysis is based on 1994 cross-sectional data for 1929 German. Firms drawn from the first wave of the Mannheim Service Innovation Panel (MIP-S). Factor demand functions are used to analyse the determinants of the Firm-specific skillstructure. The empirical evidence indicates that firms with a higher IT investment to sales ratio employ a larger fraction of high-skilled workers. The relationship between IT investment and medium-skilled labour is rather weak while the unskilled labourshare is negatively related to the IT investment to sales ratio. U sing a translog production function to assess the productivity of different input factors, we find that human and informationcapital provide the most powerful contributions to output in the service sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Falk, Martin & Seim, Katja, 1999. "Workers' skill level and information technology: evidence from German service firms," ZEW Discussion Papers 99-14, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:5231
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    Cited by:

    1. Kölling, Arnd & Schank, Thorsten, 2002. "Skill-biased technological change, international trade and the wage structure," Discussion Papers 14, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    2. Zwick, Thomas, 2001. "Beschäftigungsmöglichkeiten von Fachkräften mit Dualer Ausbildung in informationsintensiven Dienstleistungsunternehmen (Employment possibilities in information-intensive service firms for employees wi," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 34(1), pages 74-81.
    3. John Addison & Lutz Bellmann & Thorsten Schank & Paulino Teixeira, 2008. "The Demand for Labor: An Analysis Using Matched Employer–Employee Data from the German LIAB. Will the High Unskilled Worker Own-Wage Elasticity Please Stand Up?," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 114-137, June.
    4. Franz, Wolfgang, 1999. "Real and monetary challenges to wage policy in Germany at the turn of the millennium: technical progress, globalization and European Monetary Union," ZEW Discussion Papers 99-48, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    5. Michael Mesch, 2007. "Die Berufsstruktur der Beschäftigung in Wien 1991-2001," Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft - WuG, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik, vol. 33(1), pages 41-72.
    6. Ilina Srour & Erol Taymaz & Marco Vivarelli, 2014. "Globalization, Technology and Skills: Evidence from Turkish Longitudinal Microdata," ERC Working Papers 1405, ERC - Economic Research Center, Middle East Technical University, revised Jun 2014.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Information technology; skills; labour demand; service sector;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L8 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand

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