Education,skill training,and lifelong learning in the era of technological revolution: a review

Rapid technological development makes skills depreciate faster than in the past while new technologies generate gaps in workers' skills and call for the acquisition of appropriate skills and lifelong learning. Proper skill mixes for future jobs include strong cognitive skills, basic information and communication technology, and analytical skills, as well as a range of non-cognitive skills such as creativity, problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication. Retraining and reskilling workers are also crucial, particularly as life expectancy increases. All these changes lead to a major rethinking of education and skill training throughout a person's life. This paper reviews the recent studies on human capital and skill formation in the era of rapid technological progress. Findings from these studies, particularly in labour economics, can shed light on new directions for lifelong education policies, for example (1) parental investment in pre-school learning is reflected in highly positive adult outcomes; (2) as far as education inputs are concerned, teacher quality is far more important than additional school resources; and (3) government workforce training programs are largely ineffective as compared to private training, which contribute significantly to worker productivity.     

Skills and unemployment

This article attempts to spell out the links which are assumed to exist between skills and unemployment. It is argued that the claims made for the beneficial effects of raising the skill levels of the workforce have been exaggerated. The author then goes on to indicate some of the other factors which influence unemployment levels, and sketches the relevance of this to local economic initiatives.     

Skilled-Labor Intensity Differences Across Firms,Endogenous Product Quality,and Wage Inequality

This paper proposes a theory to explain the relative wage-rate increase for skilled labor that results from trade liberalization that relies on within-sector reallocations of production resources (skilled and unskilled labor) across firms. Motivated by some stylized facts, in a model with firm heterogeneity, including firms that differ in their skill intensity even within a narrowly defined industry, firms with relatively high skill intensity that are more likely to be exporters, and a positive association between a firm’s skill intensity and its product quality, I develop a general equilibrium model where firms with a higher skill intensity endogenously choose a higher-quality product, and tend to be more profitable. In this framework, a reduction in trade costs allows members of the workforce to reallocate to more efficient firms that produce higher-quality products, using their skilled labor more intensively, resulting in a rising skill premium. The main sources of the increasing wage inequality that followed trade openness are a positive link between a firm’s skill intensity, its product quality, and quality competition.     

Estimating the determinants of supply of computing, problem-solving, communication, social, and teamworking skills

We investigate the sources of supply of several core skills,using an innovative approach to skills measurement that involvesadapting a job analysis methodology and applying it in a surveycontext. We then estimate the determinants of skills supplyusing a production function model. The main findings are: (i)prior education and work experience have generally positivebut diminishing marginal impacts on skills, consistent withthe earnings function literature; (ii) off-the-job trainingis productive of most types of skill, while on-the-job trainingis effective for the generation of problem-solving and team-workingskills. Both types of training are transferable from previousemployers; (iii) more education enhances the development ofcomputing skills at work, but with respect to other core skills,less educated workers make up for their lower education throughmore work-based learning; (iv) there is a strong associationbetween the presence of some new or flexible organisation characteristicsand both the level and growth of all types of skills. We argueoverall that the contribution of work-based learning to skillsdevelopment is more important than normally allowed for in theskills policy discourse.     

Structure of the optimal income tax in the quasi-linear model

Existing numerical characterizations of the optimal income tax have been based on a limited number of model specifications. As a result, they do not reveal which properties are general. We determine the optimal tax in the quasi-linear model under weaker assumptions than have previously been used; in particular, we remove the assumption of a lower bound on the utility of zero consumption and the need to permit negative labor incomes. A Monte Carlo analysis is then conducted in which economies are selected at random and the optimal tax function constructed. The results show that in a significant proportion of economies the marginal tax rate rises at low skills and falls at high. The average tax rate is equally likely to rise or fall with skill at low skill levels, rises in the majority of cases in the centre of the skill range, and falls at high skills. These results are consistent across all the specifications we test. We then extend the analysis to show that these results also hold for Cobb-Douglas utility.     

Race, culture, and skill: Interracial wage differences among African Americans, Latinos, and whites

This article examines the interrelationships among race, culture, skill, and the distribution of wages. I utilize a three-equation system to explore this process: skill is a multidimensional productive attribute measured by years of education and work effort; educational attainment is a function of class background and individual effort; and individual wage rates are a function of skill and class background. By further assuming that effort is differentially distributed across individuals and social groups, I am able to estimate reduced form equations for educational and earnings attainment, where both equations are functions of the class backgrounds and race of individuals. The collective results of this article challenge the conventional wisdom among economists that African American and Latino job skills are of a lower quality than white job skills. To the extent that effort is an important element of worker skill, our results suggest that neither African American nor Latino labor is of lower quality than white labor. The results regarding differences between African Americans and whites in educational attainment, i.e., African Americans are able to translate a given level of resources into higher levels of educational attainment, reaffirm previous findings in the literature. The results on Latino versus white educational attainment are novel. Additionally, unlike previous research, this article connects racial differences in the skill acquisition process to the economics of discrimination.     

Changes in managerial pay structures 1986-1992 and rising returns to skill

We examine the relationship between wages and skill requirementsin a sample of over 50,000 managers in 39 companies between1986 and 1992. The data include an unusually good measure ofjob requirements and skills that can proxy for human capital.We find that wage inequality increased both within and betweenfirms from 1986 and 1992. Higher returns to our measure of skillaccounts for most of the increasing inequality within firms.At the same time, our measure of skill does not explain muchof the cross-sectional variance in average wages between employers,and changes in returns to skill do not explain any of the timeseries increase in between-firm variance over time.     

Education,globalization and catch-up: Scandinavia in the Swedish mirror

This paper estimates and analyses wage inequality trends in Portugal, from 1944 to 1984, a period that comprises the Estado Novo dictatorship and the first decade after the transition to democracy. Wage inequality is measured by the gap between skilled and unskilled labour, and reveals a downward trend in most of the period in analysis. We provide an explanation for the observed trends by looking at the influence of domestic and international forces on changes in the relative supply and demand of skilled labour. According to our findings, the skill premium declined due to the combined influence of two major forces: an increase in the relative supply of skilled labour due to the mass emigration of unskilled labour, and the decrease in the relative demand for skills, related to trade-induced changes stemming from the country's increasing openness, which followed the country's unskilled labour comparative advantages. Our findings point to the conclusion that the impact of openness on wage inequality is related to the country's relative level of development among its major trading partners.     

The growth and valuation of computing and other generic skills

This paper describes a method for measuring job skills usingsurvey data on detailed work activities, and using these measuresexamines whether the utilisation of skills is growing, and howthey are valued in the labour market. We show that between 1997and 2001 there was a growth in Britain in the utilisation ofcomputing skills, literacy, numeracy, technical know-how, high-levelcommunication skills, planning skills, client communicationskills, horizontal communication skills, problem-solving, andchecking skills. Computer skills utilisation was growing thefastest, and the use of computers was becoming more sophisticated.We re-evaluate the issue of whether computers have affectedwages, taking into account existing critiques in the literature.We find that both computer skills and high-level communicationskills carry positive wage premia, as shown both in cross-sectionhedonic wage equations that control for many detailed activities,and through a within-cohorts change analysis.     

中国制造业就业增长的反向变动趋势

本文试图考察在我国技术进步偏向资本增加情况下,资本深化对劳动密集型、资本密集型和技术密集型制造业就业增长的反向作用。鉴于我国技术进步具有要素偏向性,本文在构建理论模型时加入有偏技术进步假设,发现在技术进步偏向资本要素投入的条件下,资本深化会加深对就业的负向冲击。并利用wind数据库公布的中国制造业2383家上市企业2007-2018年数据,从横向和纵向两个维度验证了这点,结果发现:(1)在技术进步偏向资本要素投入时,资本劳动比增长率提高会降低整个制造业的就业增长率,技术进步吞噬就业。但是,资本深化对劳动密集型与资本密集型、技术密集型的就业增长作用呈反向趋势。(2)自供给侧结构性改革提出后,该反向变动趋势加强。这意味着,在技术进步和制造业深度融合过程中,劳动者需不断提高自身技能,提高就业竞争力;企业和政府配合提供培训支持,防止工人由于技能不匹配而导致大规模的结构性失业。     

A practice review of technology management: Focusing on KONVER I support for defence diversification

Defence industry cutbacks impact at national and local economy levels by triggering business deaths and job cuts, leading to lost workforce and production skills and a contracting manufacturing and technology base. Diversification is a key responsive mechanism to defence industry contraction, but how this can be funded and managed is a major issue. One route is to provide the structure and mechanisms for technology transfer. The 1980s and 1990s have seen a number of initiatives established which prioritised this route and some have received European funding under KONVER I support for defence diversification. These constituted the primary focus of research for this paper and form a practice review of diversification experiences between 1993 and 1995 through selected case studies from Lancashire, the West Midlands, the South West and Hertfordshire. Discussion of the mechanisms, structures and operational issues is contexualised by outlining public and private sector strategies and support.     

人力资本溢出效应:来自省级层面的微观证据

人力资本在一定区域的集聚能促进知识和技能的相互交流,进而推动生产率水平的提高。文章利用省际劳动力微观数据,估计了我国省级层面的人力资本溢出对生产力水平的效应。结果显示,以平均受教育年限衡量的省级人力资本水平每提高一年,劳动力平均生产水平提高约10%。     

Skill Accumulation in the Search Unemployment Model

ABSTRACT

I analyze general skill accumulation (training) and its financing among labor market entrants in a search unemployment equilibrium. Becker's general skill finance rule is modified for a search economy: although skill accumulation is associated with a hold-up problem, since it benefits future job vacancies which workers expect to be matched with, if vacancies direct their search to workers of different skill levels, workers internalize this externality. An extended model analyzes whether to accumulate skills through training or education. Small differences in the relative cost of acquiring education can lead to large differences in skill levels in the labor market.     

Can older workers stay productive? The role of ICT skills and training

This paper quantitatively examines the effects of aging on labor productivity using individual worker data in Korea. We find that information and communications technology (ICT) skills and participation in job-related training can help older workers stay productive. The estimation results present that ICT skills, a measure incorporating an individual’s proficiency in ICT skills and their utilization in the workplace, has a positive effect on the wages of the older workers aged 50–64 with a high level of education or in a skill-intensive occupation. Job training also has a significant positive effect on the wages of older workers. These results imply that compared to younger workers, well-educated older workers can obtain greater productivity increase through ICT skill attainment and their adequate use, and job-training. The evidence suggests that a productivity decrease in line with the aging process can be mitigated by training aging workers to equip themselves with ICT skills.     

The Face of Invention: Skills, Experience, and the Commitment to Patenting in Nineteenth-century Victoria

This paper uses patent data from Victoria to examine the roles played by skill and experience in Australian invention during the colonial era. In addition to identifying a broadening involvement of Australians in inventive activity in the second half of the nineteenth century, this paper also provides evidence which indicates that technological creativity in Australia in this period did not depend on either the existence of a body of highly skilled workers or major advances in the stock of knowledge of which only they were cognizant. Rather, common sense and the acquisition of basic practical skills appear to have been the only prerequisites for inventiveness. Given the widespread availability of such skills in the colonies, the article concludes that the supply of patentable ideas in nineteenth-century Australia must have been fairly elastic.     

试析当前我国劳动力市场现状和存在的问题

我国劳动力市场现状是新生劳动力增长快,供大于求矛盾突出；公有制企业就业人数大幅度减少,而非公有制就业人数大幅度增加；劳动力使用成本偏低；技能型人才总量严重不足等。存在的问题主要有劳动力资源不能任意流动,统一、开放的劳动力市场还没有形成；劳动力市场秩序不规范；供需结构性失衡和信息不畅等。     

Why wages equalized in the high-speed growth era:: Japanese manufacturing, 1961–1969

The decade of the 1960s was an era of rapid wage equalization in Japan. I clarify the process of equalization by estimating the contributions of individual demand and supply factors to it. The main results are as follows. Firstly, much of the shrinkage in wage differentials by age, tenure, and sex is a result of skill-biased technological change: the diffusion of new production methods involving automated lines raised the efficiency of the less experienced, which brought about a large demand shift toward low-wage workers. Secondly, implementing new systems made high levels of cognitive skills requisite, and hereby caused an increase in relative demand for upper secondary school graduates over lower secondary school graduates. But the widening of educational gaps was kept in check by the rapid increase in their supply. Thirdly, workforce aging and increasing attachment provided an auxiliary impetus to the wage equalization.     

Assessing skills for work: two perspectives

Changes in the nature of work have created demands for new skillsand education and training policies to enhance skill development.To successfully accomplish the latter, policymakers must firstdefine and measure skills, then understand how they contributeto economic performance. This paper contrasts two theoreticalperspectives for skills measurement: the economic perspectivethat dominates the policy discussion about skills, and the socioculturalperspective. The paper explores the basic assumptions aboutskills from each perspective and considers how each addressesdifferent issues concerning skill requirements. It argues thatthe sociocultural perspective has some advantages over the dominantparadigm.     

Getting a job when times are bad: recruitment practices in Sweden before,during and after the Great Recession

Research on recruitment shows that networks matter and are effective as search channels. The aim of this article is to analyse how recruitment practices varies over time, and specifically, how it has varied before, during, and after the Great Recession 2008–2009. The findings are that recruitment practices change both in the short term, in relation to labour supply, which we can call a cyclical effect, but also in accordance to a long-term, structural effects. Informal recruitment practices, such as recruitment through ‘friends and acquaintances’ and ‘employer made contact’, seem to increase during bad times. In the long run, the recruitment practices ‘direct application’, ‘friends and acquaintances’ and ‘formal private’ increase in relation to recruitment through the Swedish Public Employment Agency (SPEA). A reason for this may be that the labour market in the new knowledge economy demands a heterogenic workforce with high demands on non-cognitive skills and customisation. Here the new network recruitment practices seem to fit in.