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Technology and the Task Content of Jobs across the Development Spectrum

Author

Listed:
  • Julieta Caunedo
  • Elisa Keller
  • Yongseok Shin

Abstract

The tasks workers perform on the job are informative about the direction and the impact of technological change. We harmonize occupational task-content measures between two worker-level surveys, which separately cover developing and developed countries. Developing countries use routine-cognitive tasks and routine-manual tasks more intensively than developed countries, but less intensively use non-routine analytical tasks and non-routine interpersonal tasks. This is partly because developing countries have more workers in occupations with high routine content and fewer workers in occupations with high non-routine content. More importantly, a given occupation has more routine content and less non-routine content in developing countries than in developed countries. Since 2006, occupations with high non-routine content gained employment relative to those with high routine content in most countries, regardless of their income level or initial task intensity, indicating the global reaches of the technological change that reduces the demand for occupations with high routine content.

Suggested Citation

  • Julieta Caunedo & Elisa Keller & Yongseok Shin, 2023. "Technology and the Task Content of Jobs across the Development Spectrum," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 37(3), pages 479-493.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:wbecrv:v:37:y:2023:i:3:p:479-493.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/wber/lhad015
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    Cited by:

    1. Kruse,Hagen & Timmer,Marcel Peter & De Vries,Gaaitzen Johannes & Ye,Xianjia, 2023. "Export Diversification from an Activity Perspective : An Exploration Using Occupation Data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10463, The World Bank.
    2. Demir, Banu & Grover, Arti, 2026. "Do Investments in Digital Infrastructure Improve Employment Outcomes ? Evidence from Türkiye," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11314, The World Bank.
    3. Niklas Engbom & Hannes Malmberg & Tommaso Porzio & Federico Rossi & Todd Schoellman, 2025. "Economic Development According to Chandler," NBER Working Papers 34483, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Lukas B. Freund, 2025. "Superstar Teams," CESifo Working Paper Series 12303, CESifo.
    5. Bücker, Joris & Mealy, Penny, 2025. "Polarization in the product space: Skill intensity and economic development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    6. Bandiera, Oriana & Kotia, Ananya & Lindenlaub, Ilse & Moser, Christian & Prat, Andrea, 2024. "Meritocracy across Countries," CEPR Discussion Papers 19007, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Sergio Ocampo, 2019. "A task-based theory of occupations with multidimensional heterogeneity," 2019 Meeting Papers 477, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    8. Pena, Werner & Siegel, Christian, 2023. "Routine-biased technical change, structure of employment, and cross-country income differences," CEPR Discussion Papers 18366, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Engberg, Erik & Koch, Michael & Lodefalk, Magnus & Schroeder, Sarah, 2025. "Artificial intelligence, tasks, skills, and wages: Worker-level evidence from Germany," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(8).
    10. Piotr Lewandowski & Karol Madoń & Deborah Winkler, 2024. "The role of global value chains for worker tasks and wage inequality," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(11), pages 4389-4435, November.
    11. Andrej Cupák & Pavel Ciaian & d'Artis Kancs, 2021. "Comparing the immigrant-native pay gap: A novel evidence from home and host countries," EERI Research Paper Series EERI RP 2021/05, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    12. Cunningham,Wendy & Moroz,Harry Edmund & Muller,Noel & Solatorio,Aivin Vicquierra, 2022. "The Demand for Digital and Complementary Skills in Southeast Asia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10070, The World Bank.
    13. Delaporte, Isaure & Peña, Werner, 2025. "The dynamics of disappearing routine jobs in Chile: An analysis of the link between deroutinisation and informality," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    14. Antonio Martins-Neto & Nanditha Mathew & Pierre Mohnen & Tania Treibich, 2024. "Is There Job Polarization in Developing Economies? A Review and Outlook," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 39(2), pages 259-288.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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