IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/v29y1997i8p975-987.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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 search 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. 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).
    4. 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).
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Psacharopoulos, George (ed.), 1987. "Economics of Education," Elsevier Monographs, Elsevier, edition 1, number 9780080333793.
    8. 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..
    9. 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).
    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. 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. 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).
    3. 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).
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. Islam, Asif M. & Amin, Mohammad, 2023. "The gender labor productivity gap across informal firms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    7. Weinberg, Bruce A., 2004. "Experience and Technology Adoption," IZA Discussion Papers 1051, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Mateos-Planas, Xavier, 2000. "Schooling and distortions in a vintage capital model," Discussion Paper Series In Economics And Econometrics 30, Economics Division, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton.
    9. David J. Deming, 2021. "The Growing Importance of Decision-Making on the Job," NBER Working Papers 28733, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Tomas Havranek & Zuzana Irsova & Lubica Laslopova & Olesia Zeynalova, 2020. "Skilled and Unskilled Labor Are Less Substitutable than Commonly Thought," Working Papers IES 2020/29, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Sep 2020.
    11. Lutz Hendricks, 2001. "Growth, Death, and Taxes," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 4(1), pages 26-57, January.
    12. Mateos-Planas, Xavier, 2000. "Schooling and distortions in a vintage capital model," Discussion Paper Series In Economics And Econometrics 0030, Economics Division, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton.
    13. Székely, Miguel & Birdsall, Nancy & Behrman, Jere R., 2000. "Economics Reform and Wage Differentials in Latin America," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 1332, Inter-American Development Bank.
    14. Adrien Montalbo, 2020. "Education supply and economic growth in nineteenth-century France," Working Papers halshs-02482643, HAL.
    15. Havranek, Tomas & Irsova, Zuzana & Laslopova, Lubica & Zeynalova, Olesia, 2020. "The Elasticity of Substitution between Skilled and Unskilled Labor: A Meta-Analysis," MPRA Paper 102598, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Becker, Sascha O. & Hornung, Erik & Woessmann, Ludger, 2009. "Catch Me If You Can: Education and Catch-up in the Industrial Revolution," IZA Discussion Papers 4556, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Foster, Andrew D & Rosenzweig, Mark R, 1996. "Technical Change and Human-Capital Returns and Investments: Evidence from the Green Revolution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(4), pages 931-953, September.
    18. RODOKANAKIS, Stavros & VLACHOS, Vasileios, 2010. "A Non-Experimental Evaluation Of Education And Training In Greece: The Cases Of Northern Aegean And Crete," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 10(1).
    19. Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys, 2003. "Wages and productivity in Mexican manufacturing," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2964, The World Bank.
    20. Barkley, Andrew P., 2001. "The Future Of Teaching Undergraduate Agricultural Economics: Lifelong Learning In An Era Of Rapid Technological Change," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 26(1), pages 1-19, July.

    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.