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Tasks and skills in European labour markets. Background paper for the World Bank report “Growing United: Upgrading Europe’s Convergence Machine”

Author

Listed:
  • Szymon Gorka
  • Wojciech Hardy
  • Roma Keister
  • Piotr Lewandowski

Abstract

Since the 1970s, the reallocation of labour from manual to cognitive jobs, and from routine work to non-routine work, has been one of the key developments on labour markets around the world. In this paper we collect the stylised facts on the evolution of the task content of jobs in European countries between 1998 and 2014. We cover a wider group of countries than covered in the previous research. We match O*NET occupation content data with EU-LFS individual data to construct five task content measures: non-routine cognitive analytical, non-routine cognitive interpersonal, routine cognitive, routine manual, and non-routine manual physical. We find that the non-routine cognitive content of jobs increased in all countries while the manual content decreased in all countries. The routine cognitive content of jobs decreased in the majority of EU15 countries but it increased in the majority of the New Member States of the EU and in Portugal and Greece. We attribute these differences to different patterns of structural change. We also find some convergence in skill levels between the European countries, and a divergence in employment outcomes of workers with different education level within particular European countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Szymon Gorka & Wojciech Hardy & Roma Keister & Piotr Lewandowski, 2017. "Tasks and skills in European labour markets. Background paper for the World Bank report “Growing United: Upgrading Europe’s Convergence Machine”," IBS Research Reports 03/2017, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibt:report:rr032017
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    task content of jobs; routinisation; occupational change; skills; O*NET; PIAAC;
    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

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