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Occupations at risk: explicit task content and job security

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  • Ljubica Nedelkoska

    (Friedrich Schiller University-Jena & Max Planck Institute of Economics)

Abstract

The empirical investigation into the economic relevance of knowledge codification lacks behind the allied theoretical contributions. The article empirically examines the link between codifiable work content and code-based technologies. For this purpose, we use detailed information about the tasks that employees performed at their jobs, and the work devices assisting them, in West Germany, over a period of 27 years. The main results suggest that automation decreased both the explicit manual task content within occupations and the job security of occupations specialized in such tasks. Occupations which frequently performed explicit manual tasks were disproportionally concentrated in middle of the wage distribution, contributing to the widely-observed polarization of jobs.

Suggested Citation

  • Ljubica Nedelkoska, 2010. "Occupations at risk: explicit task content and job security," Working Papers 2010/48, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    • Handle: RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2010-48
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    File URL: http://ieb.ub.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2010-IEB-WorkingPaper-48.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alexandra Spitz-Oener, 2006. "Technical Change, Job Tasks, and Rising Educational Demands: Looking outside the Wage Structure," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(2), pages 235-270, April.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Skills; tasks; explicit knowledge; occupations; automation; job security;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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