IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/telpol/v47y2023i8s0308596123001088.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Information and communication technologies and employment in developing countries: Effects and transmission channels

Author

Listed:
  • Talla Fokam, Dieu Ne Dort
  • Kamga, Benjamin Fomba
  • Nchofoung, Tii N.

Abstract

This study analyzes the effect of ICT adoption on employment in developing countries. The empirical analysis covers 70 developing countries over the 1996–2017 period. To better characterize the labor market framework in developing countries, the empirical analysis incorporates the impact of ICT adoption on underemployment and labor underutilization. Using panel data techniques, the results show that ICT adoption increases employment, underemployment, and labor underutilization in developing countries. The main transmission channels identified are FDI inflows, human capital, and economic openness. As the main policy implication, policymakers in developing countries should intensify investments in the ICT sector and develop policies conducive to FDI inflows, human capital development, and economic openness to address employment issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Talla Fokam, Dieu Ne Dort & Kamga, Benjamin Fomba & Nchofoung, Tii N., 2023. "Information and communication technologies and employment in developing countries: Effects and transmission channels," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:47:y:2023:i:8:s0308596123001088
    DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2023.102597
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596123001088
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.telpol.2023.102597?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. Marco Vivarelli, 2014. "Innovation, Employment and Skills in Advanced and Developing Countries: A Survey of Economic Literature," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(1), pages 123-154.
    2. Asongu, Simplice A. & Orim, Stella-Maris I. & Nting, Rexon T., 2019. "Inequality, information technology and inclusive education in sub-Saharan Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 380-389.
    3. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2018. "ICT, Financial Access and Gender Inclusion in the Formal Economic Sector: Evidence from Africa," The African Finance Journal, Africagrowth Institute, vol. 20(2), pages 45-65.
    4. Tchamyou, Vanessa S. & Erreygers, Guido & Cassimon, Danny, 2019. "Inequality, ICT and financial access in Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 169-184.
    5. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    6. Kpognon, Koffi & Ondoa, Henri Atangana & Bah, Mamadou, 2020. "Trade Openness and Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Should We Regulate the Labor Market?," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 35(4), pages 751-777.
    7. Yann Balgobin & Antoine Dubus, 2022. "Mobile Phones, Mobile Internet, and Employment in Uganda," Working Papers hal-03617001, HAL.
    8. Robert Lawrence Afutu-Kotey & Katherine V. Gough & George Owusu, 2017. "Young Entrepreneurs in the Mobile Telephony Sector in Ghana: From Necessities to Aspirations," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 476-491, October.
    9. Brent Neiman, 2014. "The Global Decline of the Labor Share," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(1), pages 61-103.
    10. 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.
    11. John C. Anyanwu, 2013. "Characteristics and Macroeconomic Determinants of Youth Employment in Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 25(2), pages 107-129, June.
    12. Denzer, Manuel & Schank, Thorsten & Upward, Richard, 2018. "Does the Internet Increase the Job Finding Rate? Evidence from a Period of Internet Expansion," IZA Discussion Papers 11764, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. David H. Autor, 2001. "Why Do Temporary Help Firms Provide Free General Skills Training?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(4), pages 1409-1448.
    14. 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.
    15. Burcu Ozcan, 2018. "Information and communications technology (ICT) and international trade: evidence from Turkey," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 8(1), pages 93-113, April.
    16. Joshua Abor & Simon Harvey, 2008. "Foreign direct investment and employment: host country experience," Macroeconomics and Finance in Emerging Market Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 213-225.
    17. Elsadig Musa Ahmed, 2017. "Erratum to: ICT and Human Capital Spillover Effects in Achieving Sustainable East Asian Knowledge-Based Economies," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 8(3), pages 1113-1113, September.
    18. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    19. Jude, Cristina & Silaghi, Monica Ioana Pop, 2016. "Employment effects of foreign direct investment: New evidence from Central and Eastern European countries," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 32-49.
    20. Aude Schoentgen & Laurent Gille, 2017. "Valuation of telecom investments in sub-Saharan Africa," Post-Print hal-02552769, HAL.
    21. Mohamed Goaied & Seifallah Sassi, 2019. "The effect of ICT adoption on labour demand: A cross‐region comparison," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 98(1), pages 3-16, February.
    22. Leonid Kogan & Dimitris Papanikolaou & Amit Seru & Noah Stoffman, 2017. "Technological Innovation, Resource Allocation, and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(2), pages 665-712.
    23. Denzer, Manuel, 2018. "Does the internet increase the job finding rate? Evidence from a period of internet expansion," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181557, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    24. Su, Chi-Wei & Yuan, Xi & Umar, Muhammad & Lobonţ, Oana-Ramona, 2022. "Does technological innovation bring destruction or creation to the labor market?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    25. Frey, Carl Benedikt & Osborne, Michael A., 2017. "The future of employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 254-280.
    26. Asongu, Simplice A. & Nwachukwu, Jacinta C., 2017. "The Impact of Terrorism on Governance in African Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 253-270.
    27. Sune Karlsson & Nannan Lundin & Fredrik Sjöholm & Ping He, 2009. "Foreign Firms and Chinese Employment," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 178-201, January.
    28. Richard Kofi Asravor & Frank Gyimah Sackey, 2023. "Impact of Technology on Macro-Level Employment and the Workforce: What are the Implications for Job Creation and Job Destruction in Ghana?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 207-225, August.
    29. Abdulmohsen Alfalih, Abdullah & Bel Hadj, Tarek, 2021. "Asymmetric effects of foreign direct investment on employment in an oil producing country: Do human capital, institutions and oil rents matter?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    30. Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2003. "Computing Productivity: Firm-Level Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 793-808, November.
    31. Alexander Krasilnikov & Maria Semenova, 2014. "Do Social Networks Help to Improve Student Academic Performance? The Case of Vk.com and Russian Students," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 34(2), pages 718-733.
    32. Kiviet, Jan F., 2020. "Testing the impossible: Identifying exclusion restrictions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 218(2), pages 294-316.
    33. Peter Kuhn & Hani Mansour, 2014. "Is Internet Job Search Still Ineffective?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(581), pages 1213-1233, December.
    34. Sassi, Seifallah & Ben Ali, Mohamed Sami, 2017. "Corruption in Africa: What role does ICT diffusion play," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(7), pages 662-669.
    35. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 991-1013, September.
    36. Nambisan, Satish & Wright, Mike & Feldman, Maryann, 2019. "The digital transformation of innovation and entrepreneurship: Progress, challenges and key themes," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(8), pages 1-1.
    37. Aisen, Ari & Veiga, Francisco José, 2013. "How does political instability affect economic growth?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 151-167.
    38. Flavio Calvino & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2018. "The Innovation†Employment Nexus: A Critical Survey Of Theory And Empirics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 83-117, February.
    39. Benjamin Fomba Kamga & Dieu Ne Dort Talla Kokam & Tii N. Nchofoung, 2021. "Social media and political instability: some empirical evidence," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(2), pages 720-733.
    40. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2018. "The Race between Man and Machine: Implications of Technology for Growth, Factor Shares, and Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(6), pages 1488-1542, June.
    41. Asiedu, Elizabeth, 2002. "On the Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment to Developing Countries: Is Africa Different?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 107-119, January.
    42. Greenaway, David & Hine, Robert C. & Wright, Peter, 1999. "An empirical assessment of the impact of trade on employment in the United Kingdom," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 485-500, September.
    43. Peter Kuhn & Mikal Skuterud, 2004. "Internet Job Search and Unemployment Durations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 218-232, March.
    44. Hu, Gang-Gao, 2021. "Is knowledge spillover from human capital investment a catalyst for technological innovation? The curious case of fourth industrial revolution in BRICS economies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    45. Elsadig Musa Ahmed, 2017. "ICT and Human Capital Spillover Effects in Achieving Sustainable East Asian Knowledge-Based Economies," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 8(3), pages 1086-1112, September.
    46. Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2019. "The Role of Information Sharing in Modulating the Effect of Financial Access on Inequality," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 317-338, July.
    47. Rong, Shu & Liu, Kai & Huang, Si & Zhang, Qi, 2020. "FDI, labor market flexibility and employment in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    48. Choi, Changkyu, 2010. "The effect of the Internet on service trade," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 102-104, November.
    49. Avom, Désiré & Dadegnon, Aimé Kocou & Igue, Charlemagne Babatoundé, 2021. "Does digitalization promote net job creation? Empirical evidence from WAEMU countries," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(8).
    50. Jill RUBERY & Damian GRIMSHAW, 2001. "ICTs and employment: The problem of job quality," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 140(2), pages 165-192, June.
    51. Choi, Changkyu, 2003. "Does the Internet stimulate inward foreign direct investment?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 319-326, June.
    52. Aneel Karnani, 2011. "Reducing Poverty through Employment," Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, MIT Press, vol. 6(2), pages 73-97, April.
    53. Schoentgen, Aude & Gille, Laurent, 2017. "Valuation of telecom investments in sub-Saharan Africa," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(7), pages 537-554.
    54. Maria Ana Lugo, 2007. "Employment: A Proposal for Internationally Comparable Indicators," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 361-378.
    55. Benjamin Fomba Kamga & Dieu Ne Dort Talla Fokam & Paul Ningaye, 2022. "Political instability and youths unemployment in sub‐Saharan Africa," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 1850-1879, August.
    56. Ibrahim Ngouhouo & Tii Njivukuh Nchofoung, 2021. "Does Trade Openness Affects Employment in Cameroon?," Foreign Trade Review, , vol. 56(1), pages 105-116, February.
    57. Balgobin, Yann & Dubus, Antoine, 2022. "Mobile phones, mobile Internet, and employment in Uganda," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(5).
    58. Elizabeth Asiedu, 2004. "The Determinants of Employment of Affiliates of US Multinational Enterprises in Africa," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 22, pages 371-379, July.
    59. Yılmaz Kılıçaslan & Ünal Töngür, 2019. "ICT and employment generation: evidence from Turkish manufacturing," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(13), pages 1053-1057, July.
    60. Ludivine Martin & Thuc Uyen Nguyen-Thi, 2015. "The Relationship Between Innovation and Productivity Based on R&D and ict Use. An Empirical Analysis of Firms in Luxembourg," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 66(6), pages 1105-1130.
    61. Charlot, Olivier & Malherbet, Franck & Terra, Cristina, 2015. "Informality in developing economies: Regulation and fiscal policies," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1-27.
    62. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    63. Biagi, Federico & Falk, Martin, 2017. "The impact of ICT and e-commerce on employment in Europe," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 1-18.
    64. Evgeniya Yushkova, 2014. "Impact of ICT on trade in different technology groups: analysis and implications," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 165-177, February.
    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. Yang Shen & Xiuwu Zhang, 2024. "The impact of artificial intelligence on employment: the role of virtual agglomeration," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.

    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. Awad, Atif & Albaity, Mohamed, 2022. "ICT and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Transmission channels and effects," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8).
    2. Damioli, G. & Van Roy, V. & Vertesy, D. & Vivarelli, M., 2021. "May AI revolution be labour-friendly? Some micro evidence from the supply side," GLO Discussion Paper Series 823, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Asongu, Simplice A. & Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2020. "Foreign direct investment, information technology and economic growth dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1).
    4. Asongu, Simplice & le Roux, Sara & Nwachukwu, Jacinta & Pyke, Chris, 2018. "The Mobile Phone as an Argument for Good Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 89364, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. 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.
    6. Damioli, Giacomo & Van Roy, Vincent & Vertesy, Daniel & Vivarelli, Marco, 2021. "Will the AI revolution be labour-friendly? Some micro evidence from the supply side," MERIT Working Papers 2021-016, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    7. 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).
    8. Giacomo Damioli & Vincent Van Roy & Daniel Vertesy & Marco Vivarelli, 2021. "Detecting the labour-friendly nature of AI product innovation," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Politica Economica dipe0017, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    9. Asongu, Simplice & Odhiambo, Nicholas, 2022. "Foreign Direct Investment, Information Technology and Total Factor Productivity Dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 119065, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Asongu, Simplice A. & Le Roux, Sara & Singh, Pritam, 2021. "Fighting terrorism in Africa: Complementarity between inclusive development, military expenditure and political stability," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 897-922.
    11. Visser, Robin, 2019. "The effect of the internet on the margins of trade," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 41-54.
    12. Dosi, G. & Piva, M. & Virgillito, M.E. & Vivarelli, M., 2021. "Embodied and disembodied technological change: The sectoral patterns of job-creation and job-destruction," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(4).
    13. 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.
    14. Asongu, Simplice A. & Orim, Stella-Maris I. & Nting, Rexon T., 2019. "Inequality, information technology and inclusive education in sub-Saharan Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 380-389.
    15. Meniago, Christelle & Asongu, Simplice A., 2018. "Revisiting the finance-inequality nexus in a panel of African countries," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 399-419.
    16. Simplice A. Asongu & Paul N. Acha-Anyi, 2020. "Enhancing ICT for productivity in sub-Saharan Africa: Thresholds for complementary policies," African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(7), pages 831-845, November.
    17. Borsato, Andrea & Lorentz, André, 2023. "The Kaldor–Verdoorn law at the age of robots and AI," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(10).
    18. Shi, Zheng, 2023. "The impact of regional ICT development on job quality of the employee in China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(6).
    19. Asongu, Simplice & Odhiambo, Nicholas, 2019. "Foreign Aid Complementarities and Inclusive Human Development in Africa," MPRA Paper 101086, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Cresti, Lorenzo & Dosi, Giovanni & Fagiolo, Giorgio, 2023. "Technological interdependencies and employment changes in European industries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 41-57.

    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:eee:telpol:v:47:y:2023:i:8:s0308596123001088. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30471/description#description .

    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.