TY - JOUR
T1 - The effect of innovation on skilled and unskilled workers during bad times
AU - Díaz, Guillermo Arenas
AU - Arenas Diaz, Guillermo
AU - Barge-Gil, Andrés
AU - Heijs, Joost
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - The recent economic crises generated a dramatic reduction of employment, but the role of innovation has barely been analyzed. This study contributes to the literature by analyzing the differentiated effect of product and process innovation on high- and low- skilled employment during bad times. We focus on the case of Spain, a country with one of the largest reductions in employment during the crisis. The main results suggest a positive effect of innovation on employment during bad times, although this effect is remarkably larger for high-skilled than for low-skilled workers. These results hold across industries and are exacerbated in high-tech industries. It is estimated that product and process innovations account for around 13% of the different evolution between high-skilled and low-skilled employment during the crisis. These results implicitly reflect that innovation – especially product innovation – favors a bias towards the demand of high-skilled employment in detriment of low-skilled workers.
AB - The recent economic crises generated a dramatic reduction of employment, but the role of innovation has barely been analyzed. This study contributes to the literature by analyzing the differentiated effect of product and process innovation on high- and low- skilled employment during bad times. We focus on the case of Spain, a country with one of the largest reductions in employment during the crisis. The main results suggest a positive effect of innovation on employment during bad times, although this effect is remarkably larger for high-skilled than for low-skilled workers. These results hold across industries and are exacerbated in high-tech industries. It is estimated that product and process innovations account for around 13% of the different evolution between high-skilled and low-skilled employment during the crisis. These results implicitly reflect that innovation – especially product innovation – favors a bias towards the demand of high-skilled employment in detriment of low-skilled workers.
KW - Crisis
KW - High- versus Low-skilled workers
KW - Labor demand
KW - Product and process innovation
KW - Skill biased technological change
KW - Crisis
KW - High- versus Low-skilled workers
KW - Labor demand
KW - Product and process innovation
KW - Skill biased technological change
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/200451
UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0954349x19301432
U2 - 10.1016/j.strueco.2019.09.012
DO - 10.1016/j.strueco.2019.09.012
M3 - Article
SN - 0954-349X
VL - 52
SP - 141
EP - 158
JO - Structural Change and Economic Dynamics
JF - Structural Change and Economic Dynamics
ER -