From Ghana to America : The Skill Content of Jobs and Economic Development

Lo Bello, Salvatore ; Sanchez Puerta, Maria Laura ; Winkler, Hernan

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: LABOR SKILLS;    JOB CREATION;    LABOR MARKET;    SKILLS DEVELOPMENT;    LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8758
RP-ID  :  WPS8758

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

There is a growing body of literatureexploring the skill content of jobs. This paper contributesto this research by using data on the task content ofoccupations in developing countries, instead of U.S. data,as most existing studies do. The paper finds that indexesbased on U.S. data do not provide a fair approximation ofthe levels, changes, and drivers of the routine cognitiveand nonroutine manual skill content of jobs in developingcountries. The paper also uncovers three new stylized facts.First, while developed countries tend to have jobs moreintensive in nonroutine cognitive skills than developingcountries, income (in growth and levels) is not associatedwith the skill content of jobs once the analysis accountsfor other factors. Second, although adoption of informationand communications technology is linked to jobde-routinization, international trade is an offsettingforce. Last, adoption of information and communicationstechnology is correlated with lower employment growth incountries with a high share of occupations that areintensive in routine tasks.