IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/v29y1997i8p975-987.html

The impact of human capital on labour productivity in manufacturing sectors of the European Union

Author

Listed:
  • Frank Corvers

Abstract

The effects of human capital on both the level and growth of labour productivity in manufacturing sectors in seven member states of the European Union are analysed, distinguishing between four effects of human capital: worker, allocative, diffusion and research. Human capital is represented by the shares of intermediate and highly-skilled workers in the workforce of a sector. It is shown that the manufacturing sectors can be divided into three classes of sectors with different intensities of highly-skilled workers: low-, medium- and high-skill sectors. The estimation results show that both intermediate and highly-skilled labour have a positive effect on the labour productivity of a sector, although the effect is only significant for highly-skilled labour. Moreover, there are indications of underinvestment of human capital in some manufacturing sectors. These sectors could improve their competitive position by raising the employment shares of intermediate and highly-skilled labour. Finally, intermediate-skilled labour has a significantly positive effect on the growth in sectoral labour productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Frank Corvers, 1997. "The impact of human capital on labour productivity in manufacturing sectors of the European Union," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(8), pages 975-987.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:29:y:1997:i:8:p:975-987
    DOI: 10.1080/000368497326372
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/000368497326372
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/000368497326372?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 look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cörvers, F. & de Grip, A. & Orbon, J.-P., 1995. "Concurrentiekracht, productiviteit en human capital : een vergelijking tussen Nederland en Duitsland," ROA Research Memorandum 002, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    2. Welch, F, 1970. "Education in Production," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(1), pages 35-59, Jan.-Feb..
    3. Psacharopoulos, George (ed.), 1987. "Economics of Education," Elsevier Monographs, Elsevier, edition 1, number 9780080333793.
    4. Cörvers, Frank, 1994. "Human capital factors at the firm level," ROA Working Paper 7E, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    5. Bowles, Samuel, 1970. "Aggregation of Labor Inputs in the Economics of Growth and Planning: Experiments with a Two-Level CES Function," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(1), pages 68-81, Jan.-Feb..
    6. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    7. Hoevenberg, J. & de Grip, A., 1994. "Indicators of occupational employment in the European Union," ROA Report 3E, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    8. de Grip, A. & Hoevenberg, J. & Willems, E., 1995. "Atypical employment relations by occupational sector in the European Union," ROA Research Memorandum 5E, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    9. Dornbusch, Rudiger & Fischer, Stanley & Samuelson, Paul A, 1977. "Comparative Advantage, Trade, and Payments in a Ricardian Model with a Continuum of Goods," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(5), pages 823-839, December.
    10. Bartel, Ann P & Lichtenberg, Frank R, 1987. "The Comparative Advantage of Educated Workers in Implementing New Technology," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 69(1), pages 1-11, February.
    11. Gary S. Becker, 1975. "Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education, Second Edition," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck75-1, January-J.
    12. Rati Ram, 1980. "Role of Education in Production: A Slightly New Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 95(2), pages 365-373.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Frank Corvers, 1997. "The impact of human capital on labour productivity in manufacturing sectors of the European Union," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(8), pages 975-987.
    2. Adrien Montalbo, 2019. "Education and economic development. The influence of primary schooling on municipalities in nineteenth-century France," Working Papers halshs-02286126, HAL.
    3. Adrien Montalbo, 2020. "Education supply and economic growth in nineteenth-century France," Working Papers halshs-02482643, HAL.
    4. de Grip, A. & Hoevenberg, J., 1996. "Upgrading in the European Union," ROA Research Memorandum 3E, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    5. Salem Gheit, 2022. "A Stochastic Frontier Analysis of the Human Capital Effects on the Manufacturing Industries’ Technical Efficiency in the United States," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 8(3), pages 215-238, July.
    6. Mikaela Backman, 2014. "Human capital in firms and regions: Impact on firm productivity," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(3), pages 557-575, August.
    7. Weinberg, Bruce A., 2004. "Experience and Technology Adoption," IZA Discussion Papers 1051, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Grip A. de & Hoevenberg J., 1996. "Upgrading in the European Union," ROA Research Memorandum 002, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    9. Islam, Asif M. & Amin, Mohammad, 2023. "The gender labor productivity gap across informal firms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    10. Kinvi D.A. Logossah, 1994. "Capital humain et croissance économique : une revue de la littérature," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 116(5), pages 17-34.
    11. Mohammad Amin & Asif M. Islam, 2022. "Does manager education play a role in the productivity of informal firms in developing economies? Evidence from firm‐level surveys," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 962-984, May.
    12. Wolff, Edward N., 2000. "Human capital investment and economic growth: exploring the cross-country evidence," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 433-472, December.
    13. Erik Hornung, 2012. "Human Capital, Technology Diffusion, and Economic Growth - Evidence from Prussian Census Data," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 46, July.
    14. Adrien Montalbo, 2019. "Education and economic development. The influence of primary schooling on municipalities in nineteenth-century France," PSE Working Papers halshs-02286126, HAL.
    15. Adrien Montalbo, 2020. "Education supply and economic growth in nineteenth-century France," PSE Working Papers halshs-02482643, HAL.
    16. Patrik Hultberg & David Santandreu Calonge & Seong-Hee Kim, 2017. "Education policy in South Korea: A contemporary model of human capital accumulation?," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1389804-138, January.
    17. Anna-Maria Kanzola, 2024. "The Knowledge Content of the Greek Production Structure in the Aftermath of the Greek Crisis," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 936-957, March.
    18. Aleknavičiūtė Rasa & Skvarciany Viktorija & Survilaitė Simona, 2016. "The Role of Human Capital for National Innovation Capability in Eu Countries," Economics and Culture, Sciendo, vol. 13(1), pages 114-125, June.
    19. Gruber, Lloyd & Kosack, Stephen, 2014. "The tertiary tilt: education and inequality in the developing world," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 54202, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Claudio Fassio & Fabio Montobbio & Alessandra Venturini, 2015. "How do Native and Migrant Workers Contribute to Innovation? A Study on France, Germany and the UK," Discussion Papers 30, Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:applec:v:29:y:1997:i:8:p:975-987. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    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.