Book Review: Occupational Change in Europe: How Technology and Education Transform the Job Structure

Abstract

What types of jobs are becoming more important in our economies, and what causes these changes? This timely book by Daniel Oesch attempts to tackle these questions for five European countries (Britain, Denmark, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland), over 1990 to 2008. For each country, Oesch analyzes changes in the structure of employment and uses a supply-demand-institutions (SDI) logic to interpret these changes. The SDI framework follows that of the “canonical model” of labor markets. Such a model attributes changes in skill-upgrading and the skill premium to shifts in the relative demand for skilled workers due to technological progress and globalization; to shifts in the relative supply of skilled workers due to changes in educational attainment growth rates and immigration; and to labor market institutions such as collective bargaining and minimum wages. Despite its simplicity, the SDI framework has proved to be extremely successful in explaining skill-upgrading in employment as well as changes in the skill premium over time. The SDI framework therefore is a natural starting point to discuss recent changes in relative occupational employment and wages. The author does this by using an easy-to-follow methodology and by drawing on a literature of related work from the fields of sociology and labor economics.