Technological change and employer-provided training: evidence from UK workplaces (original) (raw)
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The paper analyses the applicability of vocational training and the earnings of apprentice~using survey data from West Germany in 1979, 1985/86 and 1991/92. The applicability has decreased remarkably between 1979 and 1991/92. The objective of the analysis is a sUlvey-data-based assessment of the German apprenticeship system in a time of rapid technological change. The data sets used are the three available cross-sections of Qualification and Career Surveys commissioned by the Federal Institute for Vocational Training and the Research Institute of the Federal Labour Office. For each cross-section we estimate an ordered probit model testing demand (including technological progress) and supply-side factors affecting the applicability of what workers have learned during apprenticeship. Furthermore, we estimate earnings functions with the same specification, testing whether firmspecific and socioeconomic factors have the same relevance for applicability and earnings. The results indicate that on-the-job investment in human capital has become more important relative to vocational training. Measures for improving the German dual vocational training system are suggested.
The skill bias effect of technological and organisational change: Evidence and policy implications
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Previous empirical literature has shown that technological change can be considered the main cause of the skill bias (increase in the number of high skilled workers) exhibited by manufacturing employment in developed countries over the last decades. However, recent papers have also introduced the "Skill Biased Organisational Change" hypothesis. We estimate a SUR model for a sample of 400 Italian manufacturing firms, showing that the upskilling is more a function of the reorganisational strategy than a consequence of technological change alone. Moreover, some evidence of superadditive effects emerges, consistently with the theoretical hypothesis of a coevolution of technology and organisation.
Training and Firm Productivity – Panel Evidence for Germany
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2003
A burgeoning literature on "skill-biased" technological change (SBTC) reveals that investment in information and communications technology (ICT) is associated with workforce reductions and an increase in the demand for highly educated workers. Based on extensions of the neo-classical paradigm, researchers have also come to realize that the implementation of a new technology is often accompanied by organizational change. Two edited volumes by Marco Vivarelli, Mario Pianta, Pascal Petit, and Luc Soete provide important new evidence on the policy implications of these trends. We review these volumes and other recent studies and also provide new evidence on the relationship between technological change and organizational change, based on a comprehensive dataset of Italian manufacturing firms.
Technological Change , Training , and Job Tasks in a High-Tech Industry
2000
Using data from 23 semiconductor plants, we study how automation of information handling and material handling affects development, use, and compensation of skills. Information handling automation is skill-biased technical change using relatively more technicians and engineers. It widens the skill gap across occupations, and it goes with higher initial wages for all employees and shorter career ladders for engineers. Material handling automation also widens the skill gap, but goes with employment of relatively more operators and with lower pay across all occupations. Overall, technological change goes with higher demand for skilled workers, decreased training, and deskilling of low-skill jobs and up-skilling of high-skill jobs coupled with little change in compensation structures except for a flattening of career ladders for engineers. Our findings that technological change has negative impacts on labor market outcomes for all skill groups should concern us about the outlook for emp...
1984
A conference examined the socioeconomic challenges of technological and educational change throughout the European community. One hundred fifty representatives from a cross section of countries and agencies involved in education, training, and employment gathered to discuss the following themes: the transition from initial training to employment with specific reference to the new technologies and the need for vocational education; training needs of management, employers, and employees in regard to new technologies; information technology and a changing society; and polarization or depolarization of qualification structures. The following were the main conclusions of the conference. Qualifications are not directly and narrowly determined by technical innovation. The relationship between present and future job contents and training is indirect and complex, and a cew relationship between education and training is needed to master skills in a future job. Although they may be unaware of it, politicians, trade unions, and employers play an important role in exercising choices shaping education and training arrangements and technological change. The considerable need for adult training and retraining has made consideration of new training methods an urgent matter. Small and medium-sized enterprises are faced with special problems, including greater difficulties in administering systematic training, and often a lower capacity for technical innovation. (MN)
Techno-organizational change and skill formation: Evidence from Italian manufacturing firms
2009
This paper emphasizes the role of labour demand as a determinant of working skill formation. In particular, we study the relationship between techno-organizational innovation and skill formation from a labour demand perspective. In this respect, we investigate if activities aimed at increasing the international commitment and the technological and organizational change do have an effect on both the propensity of firms to train and on the intensity of training. On this purpose, by relying on a job-competition-like framework about the operation of the labour market in allocating skills, we first estimate which factors do affect the propensity of firms to invest in work-based training activities, and, secondly, we estimate if the same factors do also play a role in determining the degree of intensity of such a training activity. Relying on a new dataset on Italian manufacturing firms active over the period 2001-2006, we first estimate a probit model on the probability for a firm to train; then we employ a Heckman two-stage selection model on the share of trainees with which we can control for selectivity bias. Our results point to a positive and significant effect of both firms' characteristics, like size, specialization and capital intensity, and firms' techno-organisational activities on both training incidence and on training intensity. A particularly significant role, in this respect, is played by the combination of process innovation and the adoption of new organizational practices.
Training, technology and innovation, and job growth
2012
Econometric analysis using data from World Bank Enterprise Surveys finds significantly higher employment growth (2-4.5%) in firms that offer training or use technology and innovation. Firms less likely to use these tools are smaller and in lowincome countries. Even though small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) perceive workforce education and skills as a bigger constraint for their operations relative to large enterprises, they are less likely to offer training or under-invest in it. Two main literature threads address this issue. One focuses on how training affects economic development (Schultz 1964; Jamison and Lau 1982). The other centers on studying innovation and absorptive capacity including technology transfer and innovation in managerial and production skills that might contribute to higher productivity and efficiency (Smeets 2008; Dutz and others 2011). For instance, Dutz and others find that employment growth rates were higher for innovating firms. In addition, firms exposed to information technology and networks (through the Internet, business associations, and export production) generally innovate more and have larger employment growth. All these studies call for policies that support innovation, including encouraging skill transfer, capacity development, and knowledge access. Yet little effort has been made to examine this issue using crosscountry micro-level data. This note sheds light on this issue, using Enterprise Surveys conducted between 2006 and 2010. Education, skills, and training Enterprise Surveys do not collect specific information on the education or skill levels of firms' workers. Instead, two related pieces of information are used: firms' concerns about the lack of adequate education and skills among their workers; and whether firms offer training to their employees.
Managerial and Decision …, 2006
Recent empirical literature has introduced the 'Skill Biased Organizational Change' (SBOC) hypothesis, according to which organizational change can be considered as one of the main causes of the skill bias (increase in the number of highly skilled workers) exhibited by manufacturing employment in developed countries. This paper focuses on the importance of the SBOC with respect to the more traditional 'Skill Biased Technological Change' in driving the skill composition of workers in the Italian machinery sector. A dynamic panel data analysis is proposed which uses a unique firm-level dataset. The results show that both skilled and unskilled workers are negatively affected by technological change, while organizational change}which in turn may be linked to new technologies}is positively linked to skilled workers.