scholarly journals What to do when the robots come? Non-formal education in jobs affected by automation

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sierdjan Koster ◽  
Claudia Brunori

PurposeOngoing automation processes may render a fair share of the existing jobs redundant or change their nature. This begs the question to what extent employees affected invest in training in order to strengthen their labour market position in times of uncertainty. Given the different national labour market regimes and institutions, there may be an important geographical dimension to the opportunities to cope with the challenges set by automation. The purpose of this study is to address both issues.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from the 2016 European labour Force Survey, the authors estimate with logit and multi-level regression analyses how the automation risk of a worker's job is associated with the propensity of following non-formal education/training. The authors allow this relationship to vary across European countries.FindingsThe results show that employees in jobs vulnerable to automation invest relatively little in training. Also, there are significant differences across Europe in both the provision of training in general and the effect of automation on training provision.Originality/valueWhile there is quite a lot of research on the structural labour market effects of automation, relatively little is known about the actions that employees take to deal with the uncertainty they are faced with. This article aims to contribute to our understanding of such mechanisms underlying the structural macro-level labour-market dynamics.

Kybernetes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liana Stanca ◽  
Dan-Cristian Dabija ◽  
Elena Păcurar

Purpose The paper aims to highlight how an applied learning framework or “community of practice” (CoP) combined with a traditional theoretical course of study enables the identification of teaching-learning processes which facilitate knowledge transfer from practitioners to graduate information technology (IT) students for quicker integration in the labour market. Design/methodology/approach CoPs are identified based on cluster analysis according to Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (1984), with data obtained through a survey. Empirical research is applied to the CoP developed within a non-formal learning framework, principal new actors being IT specialists linked to graduate IT students and teachers on a traditional university course. Graduate IT students can gain knowledge of the ideal employee and the social and emotional skills needed to integrate with the IT labour market. Findings The K-Means algorithm helps to identify clusters of graduate IT students displaying necessary knowledge acceptance behaviour to convert them into specialists. The results of the cluster analysis show different learning styles of the labour force, providing an overview of candidate selection methods and the knowledge, skills and attitudes expected by users. Research limitations/implications Although the research adds value to the existing literature on learning styles and the knowledge and core skills needed by IT specialists, it was limited to an emerging market. Originality/value The study provides a preliminary overview of graduate IT students’ attitudes from an emerging market to the re-engineering of academic learning contexts to facilitate professional knowledge transfer, converting them into IT practitioners and integrating them in the labour market of an emerging economy.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Paklina ◽  
Elena Shakina

PurposeThis study seeks to explore the demand side of the labour market influenced by the digital revolution. It aims at identifying the new composition of skills and their value as implicitly manifested by employers when they look for the new labour force. The authors analyse the returns to computing skills based on text mining techniques applied to the job advertisements.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology is based on the hedonic pricing model with the Heckman correction to overcome the sample selection bias. The empirical part is based on a large data set that includes more than 9m online vacancies on one of the biggest job boards in Russia from 2006 to 2018.FindingsEmpirical evidence for both negative and positive returns to computing skills and their monetary values is found. Importantly, the authors also have found both complementary and substitutional effects within and between non-domain (basic) and domain (advanced) subgroups of computing skills.Originality/valueApart from the empirical evidence on the value of professional computing skills and their interrelations, this study provides the important methodological contribution on applying the hedonic procedure and text mining to the field of human resource management and labour market research.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 939-957 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel Sebastian ◽  
Magdalena Ulceluse

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of an increase in the relative supply of immigrants on natives’ task reallocation, with a focus on Germany. Specifically, it investigates whether natives, as a response to increased immigration, re-specialise in communication-intensive occupations, where they arguably have a comparative advantage due to language proficiency. Design/methodology/approach The analysis uses regional data from the German Labour Force Survey between 2002 and 2014. To derive data on job tasks requirements, it employs the US Department of Labor’s O*NET database, the results of which are tested through a sensitivity analysis using the European Working Condition Survey and the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies data sets. Findings The paper finds that indeed German workers respond to increasing immigration by shifting their task supply and providing more communication relative to manual tasks. Importantly, the decrease in the supply of communication tasks is stronger and more robust than the increase in the supply of manual tasks, pointing to a potential displacement effect taking place between natives and immigrants, alongside task reallocation. This would suggest that countries with relatively more rigid labour markets are less responsive to immigration shocks. Moreover, it suggests that labour market rigidity can minimise the gains from immigration and exacerbate employment effects. Originality/value The paper not only investigates task reallocation as a result of immigration in a different institutional context and labour market functioning, but the results feed into broader policy and scholarly discussions on the effects of immigration, including questions about how the institutional context affects labour market adjustment to immigration, worker occupational mobility in a more rigid labour markets and the fine balance needed between flexibility and rigidity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 418-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wasanthi Thenuwara ◽  
Bryan Morgan

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the connection between labour supply and the wages of married women of different ages in Toronto using data from the 2010 Labour Force Survey of Canada. Design/methodology/approach – The authors employ three econometric techniques, ordinary least square, 2 stage least square and the Heckman two-step method to estimate the supply elasticities. The first two focus on the wage rate and hours conditional on the subjects being employed whereas the third method controls for sample selectivity bias by including the unemployed. Bootstrap test statistics are produced when the normality assumption for the error terms is found to be violated. Findings – The aggregate labour supply elasticity for married women in Toronto is estimated to be 0.053 which similar to value found for Canada for a whole in a previous study even though Toronto is much more diverse culturally than average. The labour supply elasticities for 25-34 year old and 35-44 year old married are estimated to be 0.108 and 0.079, respectively. The supply elasticity for married women aged 45-59 is not significantly different from 0. Originality/value – The paper shows that younger married women in Toronto are more responsive to an increase in wages than older women. The estimation procedure and the testing of the significance of coefficients are more rigorous than previous studies.


Author(s):  
P. Lynn McDonald ◽  
Richard A. Wanner

ABSTRACTIn view of the trend toward increasing early retirement observed in Canada since the 1960's, this study attempts to determine the main socioeconomic factors influencing the decision to retire before age 65 among Canadian men and women. Using data from the 1973 Canadian Mobility Study, we estimate a series of models in which retirement is measured as both the degree of involvement in the labour force and a subjective declaration of retirement status. We conclude that those Canadians who retire early tend to be single men and married women employed by others who are better educated and whose nonearned income is higher than those who retire at a later age. As anticipated, early retirement experiences are different for men and women, reflecting the more precarious position of women in the labour market.


1999 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 483-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Fieldhouse ◽  
Emma Hollywood

Official counts of unemployment in the coalfields have not reflected the large-scale losses of thousands of jobs from the mining industry in the 1980s and 1990s. Recent studies have suggested that there are indeed high incidences of unemployment among ex-miners and that much of the unemployment in the coalfields is `hidden', masked by the removal of miners from the official unemployment register through early retirement or being classed permanently sick. This paper examines how miners have been absorbed into the labour market over a ten-year period, between 1981 and 1991. Using data from the ONS Longitudinal Study a sample of miners are identified in 1981 and their labour market position in 1991 examined. The data are used to highlight changes in occupation, employment status and social class. In addition, regional differences in unemployment and joblessness are assessed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 746-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raul Eamets ◽  
Krista Jaakson

Purpose – Recent economic recession has highlighted the role of labour market flexibility as a key factor of competitiveness of a country. Despite the fact that labour mobility can essentially be seen as part of labour market flexibility, there is notable research gap concerning spatial mobility and other facets of labour market flexibility. The purpose of this special issue is to fill these gaps. Design/methodology/approach – The papers in the special issue represent various quantitative methods and databases, whereas mainly micro data (workplace, labour force or immigrant surveys, job search portal, etc.) is used. However, the type of labour market flexibility addressed is both micro- and macro-level. Findings – It is demonstrated that labour occupational mobility is determined by the business cycle, numerical flexibility, occupational categories, and sector. Spatial mobility may have counterintuitive effects on individual occupational mobility depending on gender and it is related to various flexibilities in the workplace. It is also suggested that different types of flexibilities on a firm level are interdependent of each other. Originality/value – The special issue adds to the labour market related knowledge by integrating labour market flexibility and mobility. Individually, both phenomena have been studied before, but not much research is devoted to their inter-linkages. The special issue also contributes by examining labour market flexibility and spatial mobility in the context of different countries, economic cycles, and institutional settings.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (7) ◽  
pp. 1036-1054
Author(s):  
Dafni Papoutsaki

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the probability of job separations of immigrants and natives in the UK before and during the economic crisis of 2008. Design/methodology/approach A mixed proportional hazard duration model with a semi-parametric piecewise constant baseline hazard is used on a data sample of inflows into employment. Findings It is found that the crisis increased the probability of exits to unemployment for all groups, while immigrants from the new countries of the European Union seemed to have the lowest hazard towards unemployment even after controlling for their demographic and labour market characteristics. More specifically, even when we account for the fact that they tend to cluster in jobs that are most vulnerable to the business cycle, they are still less likely to exit dependent employment than natives. However, this migrant group is adversely affected by the crisis the most. Research limitations/implications Possible implications of out-migration of the lower performers are discussed. Originality/value This paper makes use of the panel element of the UK Quarterly Labour Force Survey, and uses duration analysis on the individual level to assess the labour market outcomes of natives and immigrants in the UK.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 701-717
Author(s):  
Jesper J Rözer ◽  
Thijs Bol

Abstract A recent literature argues that the labour market returns to vocational education vary over the life cycle. Graduates with an occupation-specific educational degree have a smooth transition into the labour market but experience difficulties later in their career when their specific skills become obsolete. This life course penalty to vocational education is expected to be particularly strong in periods of rapid technological change. Existing literature has mostly studied this topic from the perspective of age effects but focused less on cohort and period effects. Moreover, it is unclear to what extent lower returns to vocational education in the late career vary across time periods. Using Labour Force Survey data for the Netherlands (1996–2012) we find that having a more occupation-specific educational degree increases the likelihood of being employed in early life and lowers the average job status. This initial advantage of a higher employment probability declines with age, and the disadvantage in job status increases as workers grow older. We find that these life-cycle effects have not, or only marginally, changed over time.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lidia Heller ◽  
Patricia Gabaldon

Purpose Through an analysis of 15 Latin American countries, the purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of several institutional variables (economic, regulatory, and cultural), which affect women’s careers towards being members of boards of directors in the region. Design/methodology/approach Based on primary and secondary information, the authors carry out multivariate analyses to understand the institutional reasons affecting the reduced presence of women on boards of directors in the region. Findings Their findings reveal differences within the region, the importance of protecting women’s professional careers in the labour market, and the effect of cultural dimensions, such as masculinity and power distance. Research limitations and implications The analysis provides an updated cross-section of the institutional and cultural conditions of the 15 countries, considering the limitations to developing data in the region. Practical implications Latin America has witnessed important changes in the dynamics of the labour market over recent decades: women’s participation in the labour force is on the increase, and corporate strategy is evolving towards the incorporation of practices and initiatives to manage the diversity of their talents. However, the presence of women in leadership positions is a pending subject. This study, in part, reveals the institutional origin of gender inequality on boards of directors in the region. The analysis provides essential tools for public policy and for companies to help promote female leadership in the region. Originality/value Recent debate and research on the scarce participation of women on corporative boards of directors have revealed a growing interest in analysing the causes of such issues despite the progress recorded in terms of gender equity in most societies. Studies on the topic in Latin America are scarce and the aim of this paper is to help to fill part of this gap.


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