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Technology or Upskilling? Trends in the Task Composition of Jobs in Central and Eastern Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Wojciech Hardy
  • Roma Keister
  • Piotr Lewandowski

Abstract

In this paper we analyse the changes in the task content of jobs in Central and Eastern European countries between 1998 and 2013. We link the O*NET data on occupational characteristics with EU-LFS, following the approach of Autor, Levy and Murnane (2003), and Acemoglu and Autor (2011). We find that the CEE countries witnessed similar trends of rising intensity of non-routine cognitive tasks, and a decreasing intensity of manual tasks, although they differed with regards to changes in the routine cognitive task content. We assess the relative role played by education and technology in the development of task contents. We also decompose the observed changes into the contributions of sectoral, educational and occupational changes as well as the interaction between them. Our results show that workforce upskilling was the major factor behind the evolution of non-routine cognitive and manual tasks in CEE, whereas structural changes and shifts towards work with lower speed of de-routinisation have shaped routine cognitive tasks.

Suggested Citation

  • Wojciech Hardy & Roma Keister & Piotr Lewandowski, 2016. "Technology or Upskilling? Trends in the Task Composition of Jobs in Central and Eastern Europe," HKUST IEMS Working Paper Series 2016-40, HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies, revised Dec 2016.
    • Handle: RePEc:hku:wpaper:201640
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    File URL: http://iems.ust.hk/assets/publications/working-papers-2016/iemswp2016-40.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Guido Matias Cortes & Diego M. Morris, 2019. "Are Routine Jobs Moving South? Evidence from Changes in the Occupational Structure of Employment in the U.S. and Mexico," Working Paper series 19-15, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    2. Lo Bello,Salvatore & Sanchez Puerta,Maria Laura & Winkler,Hernan Jorge, 2019. "From Ghana to America : The Skill Content of Jobs and Economic Development," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8758, The World Bank.
    3. Pankaj Vashisht & Nisha Rani, 0. "Automation and the Future of Garment Sector Jobs in India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 0, pages 1-22.
    4. Caitlin Allen Whitehead & Haroon Bhorat & Robert Hill & Tim Köhler & François Steenkamp, 2021. "The Potential Employment Implications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Technologies: The Case of the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector," Working Papers 202106, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    5. Pankaj Vashisht & Nisha Rani, 2020. "Automation and the Future of Garment Sector Jobs in India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(2), pages 225-246, June.
    6. Pankaj Vashisht & Nisha Rani, 2019. "Automation and Future of Garment Sector Jobs: A Case Study of India," Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) Working Paper 385, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi, India.
    7. Gimpelson, Vladimir & Kapeliushnikov, Rostislav, 2016. "Polarization or upgrading? Evolution of employment in transitional Russia," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 192-218.
    8. Roma Keister & Piotr Lewandowski, 2016. "A routine transition? Causes and consequences of the changing content of jobs in Central and Eastern Europe," IBS Policy Papers 05/2016, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    9. Guido Matias Cortes1 & Diego M. Morris, 2020. "Are routine jobs moving south? Evidence from changes in the occupational structure of employment in the USA and Mexico," WIDER Working Paper Series wp2020-11, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Lewandowski, Piotr & Keister, Roma & Hardy, Wojciech & Górka, Szymon, 2017. "Routine and Ageing? The Intergenerational Divide in the Deroutinisation of Jobs in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 10732, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Carlos Gradín & Simone Schotte, 2020. "Implications of the changing nature of work for employment and inequality in Ghana," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-119, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Antonio Martins-Neto & Nanditha Mathew & Pierre Mohnen & Tania Treibich, 2021. "Is There Job Polarization in Developing Economies? A Review and Outlook," CESifo Working Paper Series 9444, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    task content of jobs; routinization; job polarization; Central and Eastern Europe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development

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