Skill Composition Research Articles

Global Inequality in a more educated world

Better-educated and younger cohorts from developing countries are entering the global labor market. This education wave is altering the skill and geographic composition of the global labor market, and impacting income distribution, at the national and global levels. This paper analyzes how this education wave reshapes global inequality over the long run using a general-equilibrium macro-micro simulation framework that covers harmonized household surveys for almost 90% of the world population. The findings suggest that global income inequality will likely decrease by 2030. The expanding supply of better educated workers from developing countries will be a key factor, especially in supporting the reduction of income disparities between countries. The education wave will also minimize, mainly for developing countries, increases of within-country inequality linked to technological progress and its widening of wage premia.

Diverse cognitive skills and team performance: A field experiment based on an entrepreneurship education program

Verbal and mathematical reasoning are key cognitive skills which individuals use throughout their lives to create economic value. We argue that individuals undertaking entrepreneurial tasks also draw on these skills, and we study how best these skills should be combined in entrepreneurial teams. To that purpose we conduct a randomized field experiment using data from the BizWorld entrepreneurship education program. Four different types of teams are created which differ in terms of their cognitive skill composition. Our results show that balanced skills are beneficial for a team’s venture performance only if it comes from within-person skill balance, and that combining team members with different skills in mixed teams does not compensate for a lack of members who individually possess balanced cognitive skills.

The Cost of Human Capital Depreciation During Unemployment

Abstract This paper argues that human capital depreciation during unemployment generates an externality in job creation: firms ignore how their hiring decisions affect the skill composition of the future unemployment pool, and hence the output produced by new hires. As a consequence, job creation is too low from a social point of view. But the extent to which it is too low varies over the cycle. The reason is that the increase in the expected productivity of a new hire from next period’s unemployment pool caused by hiring an additional worker today, depends on the pool’s composition, which varies over the cycle.

NEW APPROACH TO BUILDING A COMPETENCY MODEL FOR LIBRARY PROFESSIONALS

The purpose of the article is to present a new approach to building a competency model for a specialist in library and information activities. Methods used in the work: analysis and generalization of the content of domestic and foreign sources on the problem of professional education.The article presents an analysis of the lists of competencies of the Federal State Educational Standard, opinions of specialists in the field of library and information activities, an approximate list of the scientific (academic) library specialist’s competencies, prepared in 2017 by employees of SPSL SB RAS at the request of the St. Petersburg State Institute of Culture representatives.It is concluded that, taking into account numerous discussions about FSES and the professional standard of a specialist in library and information activities, it is necessary to combine the efforts of representatives of the professional community for to achieve consensus in this area and update the existing regulatory framework. It is also advisable to consider the possibility of creating competency profiles that would form the basis for the above-mentioned documents and ensure interests of organizations providing training in the field of library and information activities and institutions-employers.Novelty. Complex approach is proposed to build a competency model for a specialist in library and information activities, based on integration of approved regulatory documents and employers’ requests: for each group of competencies the basic minimum should be determined (approved by the federal authorities responsible for the state supervision and ensuring compliance of requirements in composition of labor functions, knowledge and skills in approved documents) and the variable part, ensuring compliance of competencies being formed with particularities of libraries of various types (public, academic, special).This requires development of a regulatory framework in the field of library and information activities (updating existing and developing new documents). The proposed competency model correlates with regulatory documents.Practical significance: a competency model is proposed, within which educational organizations, institutions of the library and information sphere can jointly form an effective process for training specialists.

Macroeconomic conditions and child schooling in Turkey

This paper examines the effects of macroeconomic shocks on child schooling in Turkey using household labor force surveys from 2005–2013. We use variation in local labor demand as an instrumental variable, particularly regional industry composition and national industry employment growth rates. The results demonstrate that child schooling is pro-cyclical in Turkey, with the most acute effects among children with less educated parents and living in rural areas. Finally, as hypothesized, we find asymmetric effects on child schooling based on skill composition of employment growth–higher unemployment among unskilled workers increases schooling, whereas higher unemployment among skilled workers decreases schooling.

Public Procurement, Local Labor Markets and Green Technological Change. Evidence from US Commuting Zones

The paper investigates whether and through which channels green public procurement (GPP) and the skills composition stimulate local environmental innovation capacity. We use detailed data sources on green patents and procurement expenditure at the level of US Commuting Zones for the period 2001–2011. We also check for the moderating effects of local labor market composition in the relation between GPP and green innovation capacity. Lastly, we test for differential effects of GPP on different classes of green technologies (GTs). The main finding is that GPP is an important driver for the local generation of GTs. High availability of abstract skills in the local workforce also drives the generation of GTs and magnifies the positive effect of GPP. When separated by type of GTs, we find evidence of a more pronounced effect of GPP on the local generation of mitigation, relative to adaptation, technologies.

THE IMPACT OF EU IMMIGRATION ON ECONOMIC GROWTH THROUGH THE SKILL COMPOSITION CHANNEL

The paper aims to examine the new trends of immigration and their implications on the economy of the host country, particularly on economic growth and unemployment. As the effects of aging population can be felt in many countries, especially in developed ones, migration will continue to play an increasing role in the economic growth of all countries, either sending or receiving. Given the changes in migration trends and migration policies, the impact of the process should be revised. One of the main characteristics that significantly impacts economic growth is the education and skill level of immigrants. In the light of this fact, the research aims to identify the impact of immigration on growth through the skill composition channel. We analyzed the impact of skilled and unskilled immigration on growth, also including the unemployment rate as a relevant factor for the labour market. We estimated six dynamic panel models using the system of generalised method of moments (GMM) to take into account the risk of an endogeneity bias of the migration variables. The results indicate a positive and significant effect of skilled immigration on the economic growth of the receiving country. The results also point to a 1.3 percent β-convergence rate consistent with the values found in the convergence literature which are around 2 percent.

Human Performance Analysis of Processes for Retrieving Beidou Satellite Navigation System During Breakdown.

Satellite navigation systems provide continuous, timely, and accurate signals of location, speed, and time to users all over the world. Although the running of these systems has become highly automated, the human operator is still vital for its continued operation, especially when certain equipment failures occur. In this paper, we examined 180 incidents of one particular type of equipment failure and the whole recovery process as recorded in the log files from a ground control center of the Beidou satellite navigation system. We extracted the information, including the technical description of the failure, the time when the fault occurred, the full recovery time, and the demographic information of the team members on the shift responsible for responding to the failure. We then transformed these information into the cognitive complexity of the task, time of day, shift handover period, and team skill composition. Multiple regression analysis showed that task complexity and shift handover were key predictors of recovery time. Time of day also influenced the recovery time, during midnight to 4 a.m., operators made longer responses. We also found that the fault handling processes could be improved if the team’s most adept member is more skillful at that role than in other teams. We discussed the theoretical and practical implication of this study.

Spillover Effects of Inward Foreign Direct Investment on Labour Productivity: An Analysis on Skill Composition in Manufacturing Industry

Using the current 2-digit levels of panel data set from 14 manufacturing industries during the period of 2000–2018, the present study adds to the literature by investigating both technology and knowledge effects from FDI spillovers on labour productivity according to skill composition. Applying the seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) estimator, the outcomes showed that the “technology effects” measured by the number of FDI companies are greater as compared to MNCS’ capital investments and “knowledge” effects in increasing labour productivity. However, the diffusion of FDI knowledge via “learning effects” produced a significant negative relationship with labour productivity across all skill levels. Recognising that improvements in labour productivity are important to ensure that manufacturers remain competitive in line with industry 4.0 requirements, this study concluded that technology and knowledge from FDI spillovers can potentially increase labour productivity, but the success of transferring knowledge and technology depends on employee absorption capacities. Thus, this study highlights the need for employers to provide monetary incentive or personal awards to employees who are able to successfully transfer their FDI’s knowledge and technology through the demonstration and competition effects to other employees.

The Effects of Eu-Funded Enterprise Grants on Firms and Workers

This paper investigates the effects of non-repayable enterprise grants financed from the European Union's Structural and Cohesion Funds on firm outcomes in Hungary using firm- and worker-level information on all rejected and successful grant applications between 2004-2014. In our model, after paying the fixed cost of applying, firms can purchase capital at a reduced marginal cost and they share the rent generated from the grant with their workers. In line with the model's predictions, larger than average, more productive and faster growing firms are more likely to apply for a grant. We combine panel regression methods with matching techniques to estimate the effect of grants by comparing successful and unsuccessful applicants' outcomes. Subsidized firms increase their employment, sales, capital-to-labor ratio and labor productivity, but not total factor productivity. The skill composition of workers is not affected by the grant but wages grow, especially for skilled workers. Firms winning multiple grans benefit more already from the first grant and successive grants have even larger effects. According to our simple calculations, each year's subsidy program created jobs in grant winning firms equivalent to 0.3-0.5 percent of total SME employment and contributed by 0.3-0.7 percentage points to aggregate SME productivity growth – with an annual cost often in excess of 1 percent of total SME value added. These results suggest that these grants promote firm growth, but do not lead firms to introduce new forms of production or upgrade technology.

Human Capital as Engine of Growth the Role of Knowledge Transfers in Promoting Balanced Growth within and across Countries

Unlike physical capital, human capital has both embodied and disembodied dimensions. It can be perceived of as skill and acquired knowledge, but also as knowledge spillover effects between overlapping generations and across different skill groups within and across countries. We illustrate the roles these characteristics play in the process of economic development; the relation between income growth and income and fertility distributions; and the relevance of human capital in determining the skill distribution of immigrants in a balanced-growth global equilibrium setting. In all three illustrations, knowledge spillover effects play a key role. The analysis offers new insights for understanding the decline in fertility below population replacement rate in many developed countries; the evolution of income and fertility distributions across developing and developed countries; and the often asymmetric effects that endogenous immigration flows and their skill composition exert on the long-term net benefits from immigration to natives in source and destination countries.

Impact of Migration on Innovation

Migration can be traced from time immemorial and affect both the place people leave and the place they move and is a powerful driver of economic, political and social change. Actual migration is constrained by the individual or household capability, including the financial or social capital. Immigration provided a large supply of labor that was necessary for the take-off of industry and sustained modern economic growth during the early stages of industrial development. The economics of migration indicates that the host country needs immigrants. Migration as a process is a wonderful opportunity to achieve aspirations of progress and is a tool for development. Innovation is the primary source of competitive advantage, industrial change and economic growth. It requires hard, focused, purposeful work along with knowledge, and ingenuity. Firms use different innovation strategies based on technological opportunities and characteristics of their sector. Knowledge management improves the creative abilities of any organization by ensuring the timely availability and accessibility of knowledge. Management of knowledge has a vital role in creating an internal working environment that supports creativity and fosters innovation. Organizational culture is one of the elements for management of knowledge. Immigration may boost innovation by the population size effect; the population density effect; the migrant share effect; the skill composition effect and the migrant diversity effect. Globalization has increased sharply the mobility of highly skilled workers who are younger, more entrepreneurial and less risk averse. When diverse people collaborate and share, innovation usually emerges. Migration enhances the diversity among economic agents and enhances their individual knowledge bases. Knowledge spillovers caused by the interaction between skilled workers creates and spurs idea creation. **********************

Experience, skill composition, and the persistence of unemployment fluctuations

There is little internal propagation of unemployment in standard search and matching models. When calibrated to the high levels of worker flows observed empirically, unemployment in these models rapidly converges back to its steady state level. We illustrate that even with high worker flows between employment and unemployment, slow movements in the composition of workers across groups with different baseline unemployment rates can generate substantial persistence. To quantitatively assess the importance of these compositional changes, we develop a search model with worker experience and skill loss. When the model is calibrated to match empirical evidence on labor market outcomes that vary with tenure and worker displacement, the model endogenously generates substantial persistence in unemployment.

The South African Technical and Vocational Education and Training System from a German Perspective

Abstract This paper provides information about the South African Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system from a German perspective as well as about South-African - German cooperation in this system gathered by literature reviews. Due to a shift in South Africa’s economy towards the service sector, the existing skills composition does not fit the needs anymore and may hinder further development. Foreign and local companies have a high demand for skilled workers. A short introduction to the TVET system is provided and challenges are pointed out. Furthermore the role of the Skills Education Training Authorities in TVET is described. Finally, the current state of South African - German cooperation in the TVET sector including a selection of projects on different levels involving German and South African institutions is outlined.

The mediating role of joint attention in the relationship between motor skills and receptive and expressive language in siblings at risk for autism spectrum disorder

Language problems are highly prevalent in younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (HR-sibs), yet little is known about early predictors. There is growing evidence that motor and language development are linked and this connection might be mediated by joint attention. Developmental changes in motor abilities change how children interact with objects and people (e.g., by showing), which may influence language development. This association has however not yet been studied in HR-sibs. The interrelationship between motor, joint attention and language skills was explored in younger siblings of typically developing children (LR-sibs, N = 31) and HR-sibs (N = 32). In both groups, motor skills (composite of fine and gross motor skills) at 10 months influenced receptive and expressive language at 36 months directly and indirectly through joint attention at 14 months. Group status moderated this direct and indirect effect with mainly significant effects in HR-sibs. This indicates that lower motor skills can have cascading effects on joint attention and language in HR-sibs. Consequently, assessment of early motor skills in HR-sibs might hold promise for early identification of motor difficulties but can also be indicative of language difficulties later in life, especially when difficulties with joint attention are also present.

Exchange rate risk and the skill composition of labor

This paper uses matched employer–employee data covering the universe of Swedish private sector firms 1998–2014 to examine the links between exchange rate risk and the skill composition of labor in firms. We use firm times export destination and firm times import origin data to calculate firm-level measures of real exchange rate risk and real effective exchange rates. Our main result is that firms facing higher exchange rate risk employ a higher share of skilled labor and that the effect is especially marked among trade intensive firms in manufacturing and in firms with fewer than 50 employees. This finding is consistent with theoretical models of flexible work systems that require higher skill levels as a way of responding to higher risk.

Trade Liberalization and Labor Market Adjustments: Does Rent Sharing Matter?

ABSTRACT Using a firm-level dataset, this article investigates the impact of trade liberalization on employment and wages in Vietnamese manufacturing during 2003–2008. Different from the previous researches, we consider indirect effects of trade liberalization via real output for the employment and via rent sharing for the wage adjustments. Overall, we find empirical evidence that trade liberalization has a negative, statistically significant, but minor in magnitude effect on employment and wage. The rent-sharing approach allows a further investigation of heterogeneity in bargaining power across firms by gender and skill composition for the wage response. There exist differences in gender and skill earnings gaps but trade liberalization can moderate these gaps.

The Employment Consequences of Robots: Firm-Level Evidence

As a new general-purpose technology, robots have the potential to radically transform employment and organizations. In contrast to prior studies that predict dramatic employment declines, we find that investments in robotics are associated with increases in total firm employment, but decreases in the total number of managers. Similarly, we find that robots are associated with an increase in the span of control for supervisors remaining within the organization. We also provide evidence that robot adoption is not motivated by the desire to reduce labor costs, but is instead related to improving product and service quality. Our findings are consistent with the notion that robots reduce variance in production processes, diminishing the need for managers to monitor worker activities to ensure production quality. As additional evidence, we also find robot investments predict improved performance measurement and increased adoption of incentive pay based on individual employee performance. With respect to changes in skill composition within the organization, robots predict decreases in employment for middle-skilled workers, but increases in employment for low- and high-skilled workers. We also find robots not only predict changes in employment, but also corresponding adaptations in organizational structure. Robot investments are associated with both centralization and decentralization of decision-making authority depending upon the task, but decision rights in either case are reassigned away from the managerial level of the hierarchy. Overall, our results suggest that robots have distinct and profound effects on employment and organizations that require fundamental changes in firm practices and organizational design.

Recession‐proof skills, cities, and resilience in economic downturns

AbstractWe provide evidence, by combining Occupational Information Network (O*NET) data with monthly Current Population Survey data from 1990 to 2015, that occupations characterized by high cognitive and people skill requirements are less sensitive to recessions, conditional on educational attainment, industry, and individual characteristics. These results are driven by urban areas, particularly noncollege educated people in urban areas, and vary with city size. Finally, we provide the first evidence that metropolitan areas’ recovery from economic downturns depends upon initial skill composition of occupations in the area.

Is Employer Sponsorship a Good Way to Manage Labour Migration? Implications for Post-Brexit Migration Policies

This paper examines the implications of labour migration models that rely on employer sponsorship. According to UK government proposals, long-term migration into high-skilled jobs after Brexit will require workers to be sponsored by employers, while workers in low-skilled and low-wage jobs will receive short-term work permits that do not require an employer sponsor. The paper argues that choosing employer sponsorship over worker-driven routes has three key effects: it gives the government greater ability to regulate which jobs migrants fill; it gives employers more power over their workforce; and it increases the administrative burden associated with hiring workers from overseas. This implies that in high-skilled jobs, employer sponsorship is likely to improve the skill composition of labour migrants but reduce the total number of skilled workers admitted; and that in low-skilled positions the government faces a trade-off between the ability to channel workers to specific jobs (including those where employers struggle to attract workers) and the risk of increasing underpayment or exploitation.