Skilled labor supply, IT-based technical change and job instability

Pré-publication, Document de travail: In this paper, we provide empirical evidence on the impact of IT diffusion on the stability of employment relationships. We document the evolution of the different components of job instability over a panel of 350 local labor markets in France, from the mid 1970s to the early 2000s. Although workers in more educated local labor markets adopt IT faster, they do not experience any increase in job instability. More specifically, we find no evidence that the faster diffusion of IT is associated with any change in job-to-job transitions, and we find that it is associated with relatively less frequent transitions through unemployment. Overall, the evidence goes against the view that the diffusion of IT has spurred job instability. Combining the local labor market variations with firm data, we argue that these findings can be explained by French firms' strong reliance on training and internal promotion strategies in order to meet the new skills requirement associated with IT diffusion.

Auteur(s)

Luc Behaghel, Julie Moschion

Date de publication
  • 2011
Mots-clés JEL
J23 J24 J41
Mots-clés
  • Technical change
  • Labor turnover
  • Skill bias
  • Job security
  • Internal labor markets
Référence interne
  • PSE Working Papers n°2011-39
Version
  • 1