• français
    • English
  • français 
    • français
    • English
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
BIRD Home

Browse

This CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsJournals BIRDResearch centres & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsJournals

My Account

Login

Statistics

View Usage Statistics

Information and communication technologies and skill upgrading: the role of internal vs external labour markets

Thumbnail
Date
2012
Dewey
Economie du travail
Sujet
training; skill bias; internal labour markets; Technical change; labour turnover
JEL code
J.J4.J41; J.J2.J24; J.J2.J23
Journal issue
Oxford economic papers
Volume
64
Number
3
Publication date
2012
Article pages
490-517
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpr045
URI
https://basepub.dauphine.fr/handle/123456789/7248
Collections
  • LEDa : Publications
Metadata
Show full item record
Author
Behaghel, Luc
2579 Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique [CREST]
Caroli, Eve
status unknown
Walkowiak, Emmanuelle
status unknown
Type
Article accepté pour publication ou publié
Abstract (EN)
Following the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT), firms may react to increasing skill requirements either by training or hiring the new skills, or a combination of the two.Using matched datasets with about 1,000 French plants, we assess the relative importance of these external and internal labour market strategies. We show that skill upgrading following technological and organisational changes takes place mostly through internal labour markets adjustments. Consistently with the results in the literature, we find that the intensive use of ICT is associated with an upward shift in the occupational structure within firms. We show that about one third of the upgrading of the occupational structure is due to hiring and firing workers from and to the external labour market, whereas two-thirds are due to promotions. Moreover, we find no compelling evidence of external labour market strategies based on "excess turnover". In contrast, French firms heavily rely on training in order to upgrade the skill level of their workforce. When looking at potential heterogeneity across firms in skill upgrading strategies, we find that all firms rely much more on promotions than on external movements in order to shift their occupational structure upward. In contrast, different training patterns are found across sectors : the use of ICT is strongly correlated with training for all occupational groups in manufacturing sectors, whereas this is not the case in services. This difference is robust to controlling for other sources of heterogeneity and may be explained by the fact that labour turnover is much higher in services than in manufacturing.

  • Accueil Bibliothèque
  • Site de l'Université Paris-Dauphine
  • Contact
SCD Paris Dauphine - Place du Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny 75775 Paris Cedex 16

 Content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons 2.0 France (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) license.