IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/zewdip/5398.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

What drives the vacancy rate for information technology workers?

Author

Listed:
  • Falk, Martin

Abstract

This paper provides empirical evidence on both the magnitude and determinants of unfilled positions for information technology workers using cross-sectional data on 4150 German firms. Vacancies are defined as unfilled positions excluding those created by replacement needs during the first half of the year 2000. The share of unfilled positions created by replacement needs is only about 20 percent, indicating that high turnover rates are not the main reason for high vacancy rates. The adjusted job vacancy rate for ICT workers varies between 5.7 percent in the ICT sector and 6.7 percent in the non-ICT sector. The results of a generalized tobit model show that the adjusted vacancy rate mainly depends on the firm size, the share of ICT workers and actions taken in the past to solve the ICT worker shortage but not on the diffusion of ICT. In the ICT sector, the decision made in the past to train apprentices in the new ICT occupations seems to have reduced the current vacancy rate. In the non-ICT sector, a successful strategy to solve the ICT worker shortage appears to be increased internal training. Finally, in the non-ICT sector, the common practice of completely outsourcing software programming significantly reduces the probability of unfilled positions.

Suggested Citation

  • Falk, Martin, 2001. "What drives the vacancy rate for information technology workers?," ZEW Discussion Papers 01-43, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:5398
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/24465/1/dp0143.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Timothy F. Bresnahan & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2002. "Information Technology, Workplace Organization, and the Demand for Skilled Labor: Firm-Level Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 339-376.
    2. Schmidt, Christoph M & Zimmermann, Klaus F, 1991. "Work Characteristics, Firm Size and Wages," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(4), pages 705-710, November.
    3. de New, John & Schmidt, Christoph M., 1999. "Money for Nothing and Your Chips for Free? The Anatomy of the PC Wage Differential," IZA Discussion Papers 86, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Francis Green & David Ashton, 1992. "Skill Shortage and Skill Deficiency: A Critique," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 6(2), pages 287-301, June.
    5. Haskel, Jonathan & Martin, Christopher, 2001. "Technology, Wages, and Skill Shortages: Evidence from UK Micro Data," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(4), pages 642-658, October.
    6. Abraham, Katharine G, 1983. "Structural-Frictional vs. Deficient Demand Unemployment: Some New Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(4), pages 708-724, September.
    7. Poirier, Dale J., 1980. "Partial observability in bivariate probit models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 209-217, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Engel, Dirk, 2002. "Welche Regionen profitieren von Venture Capital-Aktivitäten?," ZEW Discussion Papers 02-37, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

    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. Falk Martin, 2002. "What Drives the Vacancy Rate for Information Technology Workers? / Was bestimmt den Mangel an IKT-Fachkräften?," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 222(4), pages 401-420, August.
    2. Spitz, Alexandra & Bertschek, Irene, 2003. "IT, Organizational Change and Wages," ZEW Discussion Papers 03-69, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Cindy Zoghi & Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia, 2007. "Which workers gain upon adopting a computer?," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(2), pages 423-444, May.
    4. Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia & Cindy Zoghi, 2004. "Which Workers Gain from Computer Use?," Working Papers 373, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    5. Cindy Zoghi & Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia, 2007. "Which workers gain upon adopting a computer?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(2), pages 423-444, May.
    6. Ganna Vakhitova & Christopher R. Bollinger, 2011. "Labor Market Return to Computer Skills: Using Microsoft Certification to Measure Computer Skills," Discussion Papers 46, Kyiv School of Economics.
    7. Falk, Martin & Steiner, Viktor & Bertschek, Irene & Doherr, Thorsten & Fryges, Helmut & Licht, Georg & Prussog-Wagner, Angela & Schröder, Helmut & Smid, Menno, 2001. "IKT-Fachkräftemangel und Qualifikationsbedarf: Empirische Analysen für das Verarbeitende Gewerbe und ausgewählte Dienstleistungssektoren in Deutschland im Auftrag des Deutschen Zentrums für Luft- und ," ZEW Expertises, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, number 110495.
    8. Bauer, Thomas K. & Bender, Stefan, 2001. "Flexible Work Systems and the Structure of Wages: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data," IZA Discussion Papers 353, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Alexandra Spitz-Oener, 2008. "The Returns to Pencil Use Revisited," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 61(4), pages 502-517, July.
    10. Ahmed, Salma & Feeny, Simon & Posso, Alberto, 2015. "What firm characteristics determine women’s employment in manufacturing? Evidence from Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 84492, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Handel, Michael J., 2003. "Implications of Information Technology for Employment, Skills, and Wages: A Review of Recent Research," MPRA Paper 80077, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Andy Dickerson & Francis Green, 2002. "The Growth and Valuation of Generic Skills," Studies in Economics 0203, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    13. Hofer, Helmut & Riedel, Monika, 2003. "Computer Use and the Wage Structure in Austria," Economics Series 147, Institute for Advanced Studies.
    14. Paola Gritti & Riccardo Leoni, 2013. "The impact on wages of generic competencies, psychological capital, new work practices and digital technologies," Working Papers (2013-) 1301, University of Bergamo, Department of Management, Economics and Quantitative Methods.
    15. Fındık, Derya & Tansel, Aysit, 2013. "Resources on the stage: a firm level analysis of the ict adoption in Turkey," MPRA Paper 65956, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 05 Aug 2014.
    16. Cody, John, 2015. "How labor manages productivity advances and crisis response: A comparative study of automotive manufacturing in Germany and the US," GLU Working Papers 32, Global Labour University (GLU).
    17. Nguimkeu, Pierre & Denteh, Augustine & Tchernis, Rusty, 2019. "On the estimation of treatment effects with endogenous misreporting," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 208(2), pages 487-506.
    18. Alhassan Abdul-Wakeel Karakara & Evans Osabuohien, 2020. "ICT adoption, competition and innovation of informal firms in West Africa: a comparative study of Ghana and Nigeria," Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 14(3), pages 397-414, June.
    19. Ahn, Sanghoon, 2003. "Technology Upgrading with Learning Cost," CEI Working Paper Series 2003-21, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    20. Daron Acemoglu & Philippe Aghion & Claire Lelarge & John Van Reenen & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2007. "Technology, Information, and the Decentralization of the Firm," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(4), pages 1759-1799.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    unbesetzte Stellen; IKT-Fachkräfte; Informationstechnologie; Unfilled positions; ICT workers; information technology;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

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

    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:zbw:zewdip:5398. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zemande.html .

    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.