Does the Adoption of Complex Software Impact Employment Composition and the Skill Content of Occupations? : Evidence from Chilean Firms
A major concern with the rapid spread of technology is that it replaces some jobs, displacing workers. However, technology may raise firm productivity, generating more jobs. The paper contributes to this debate by exploiting a novel panel data set...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/745071498244425319/Brexit-trade-governance-and-legal-implications-for-third-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27608 |
| Summary: | A major concern with the rapid spread of
technology is that it replaces some jobs, displacing
workers. However, technology may raise firm productivity,
generating more jobs. The paper contributes to this debate
by exploiting a novel panel data set for Chilean firms in
all sectors between 2007 and 2013. While previous studies
examine the impacts of automation on the use of routine
tasks by middle-educated workers. this study focuses on a
measure of complex software that is typically used by more
educated workers in cognitive and nonroutine tasks for
client, production, and business management. The
instrumental variables estimates show that in the medium
run, firms' adoption of complex software affects
firms' employment decisions and the skill content of
occupations. The adoption of complex software reallocates
employment from skilled workers to administrative and
unskilled production workers. This reallocation leads to an
increase in the use of routine and manual tasks and a
reduction in the use of abstract tasks within firms.
Interestingly, the impacts tend to be concentrated in
sectors with a less educated workforce, suggesting that
technology can constrain job creation for the more skilled
workers there. The paper concludes that the type of
technology matters for understanding the impacts of
technology adoption on the labor market. |
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