IT Capital, Job Content and Educational Attainment

Alexandra Spitz

No 03-04, ZEW Discussion Papers from ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Abstract: Based on a large data set containing information on occupations between 1979 and 1999, this study explores the ?black box? surrounding the skill?biased technological change hypothesis by analyzing the mechanisms that induce information technologies to be complementary to employees with higher skill levels. Using direct, multidimensional measures of occupational skill requirements, the analysis shows that IT capital substitutes repetitive manual and repetitive cognitive skills, whereas it complements analytical and interactive skills. These changes in the within occupational task mix result in an increased deployment of employees with high levels of education who have comparative advantages in performing non?repetitive cognitive tasks.

Keywords: skill-biased technological change; job task content; vocational education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C30 J23 J24 O30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:zewdip:900

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