Impact of Industrial Change on Skills during the Economic Transition in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

ABSTRACT How has the changing structure of the economy during the transition in Central and Eastern Europe resulted in reskilling, deskilling, or upskilling of the labor force? Using data from the Life in Transition Survey and survival analysis we find that the scale of changes in the skill-sets has been surprisingly limited. Instead, the transition has resulted in a generational change: workers from declining sectors left employment, while the young cohorts took up the jobs in the emerging sectors. Furthermore, to a large extent, pre-retirement exits can be explained by a lack of relevant skills in the older generation that were necessary for the open market.