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The Skill Content of Occupations across Low and Middle Income Countries: Evidence from Harmonized Data

Author

Listed:
  • Dicarlo, Emanuele

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Lo Bello, Salvatore

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Monroy-Taborda, Sebastian

    (World Bank)

  • Oviedo, Ana Maria

    (World Bank)

  • Sanchez Puerta, Maria Laura

    (World Bank)

  • Santos, Indhira

    (World Bank)

Abstract
Using new and harmonized worker-level survey data on tasks at work in the developing world, this paper constructs, for the first time, a measure of the skill content of occupations for 10 low and middle-income countries. Following Autor, Levy and Murnane (2003), Acemoglu and Autor (2011), and Autor and Handel (2013), we map tasks into non-routine analytical, non-routine interpersonal, and routine & manual skill groups. We find significant differences in the skill mix used by workers across different occupations, with selected white-collar occupations being intensive in Analytical and Interpersonal skills, while others — mostly blue collar, but not only — being more intensive in Routine and Manual skills. We also find that the rankings of occupations along the skill dimensions are quite stable across countries, and they correlate significantly higher between middle- and low-income countries than between them and the United States. Hence, the common practice of assuming the same skill structure for occupations in the United States and other countries can be misleading. Finally, we find that the heterogeneity of skill content between occupations (within countries) tends to decrease with the level of income, while the heterogeneity within occupations decreases only weakly (or not at all) for higher income levels. Taken together, these results suggest that as countries develop, they tend to adopt and use certain skills more widely, especially across occupations. This may suggest some degree of specialization in skills content of tasks as countries develop, especially moving towards less occupation-specific Analytical or Interpersonal skills that are becoming increasingly relevant across the board.

Suggested Citation

  • Dicarlo, Emanuele & Lo Bello, Salvatore & Monroy-Taborda, Sebastian & Oviedo, Ana Maria & Sanchez Puerta, Maria Laura & Santos, Indhira, 2016. "The Skill Content of Occupations across Low and Middle Income Countries: Evidence from Harmonized Data," IZA Discussion Papers 10224, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10224
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. David H. Autor & Michael J. Handel, 2013. "Putting Tasks to the Test: Human Capital, Job Tasks, and Wages," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(S1), pages 59-96.
    2. David H. Autor & Frank Levy & Richard J. Murnane, 2003. "The skill content of recent technological change: an empirical exploration," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Nov.
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    9. Omar S. Arias & Carolina Sánchez-Páramo & María E. Dávalos & Indhira Santos & Erwin R. Tiongson & Carola Gruen & Natasha de Andrade Falcão & Gady Saiovici & Cesar A. Cancho, 2014. "Back to Work : Growing with Jobs in Europe and Central Asia," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 16570.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Antonio Martins-Neto & Xavier Cirera & Alex Coad, 2024. "Routine-biased technological change and employee outcomes after mass layoffs: evidence from Brazil," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 33(3), pages 555-583.
    3. Lewandowski, Piotr & Keister, Roma & Hardy, Wojciech & Górka, Szymon, 2020. "Ageing of routine jobs in Europe," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(4).
    4. Mohit Sharma & Sargam Gupta & Xavier Estupinan, 2020. "An alternate to survey methods to measure work from home," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2020-028, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    5. Vona, Francesco, 2023. "Skills and human capital for the low-carbon transition in developing and emerging economies," FEEM Working Papers 338778, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    6. Francesco Vona, 2023. "Skills and human capital for the low-carbon transition in developing and emerging economies," Working Papers 2023.19, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    7. Piotr Lewandowski & Albert Park & Wojciech Hardy & Yang Du & Saier Wu, 2022. "Technology, Skills, and Globalization: Explaining International Differences in Routine and Nonroutine Work Using Survey Data," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 36(3), pages 687-708.
    8. Szymon Gorka & Wojciech Hardy & Roma Keister & Piotr Lewandowski, 2017. "Tasks and skills in European labour markets. Background paper for the World Bank report “Growing United: Upgrading Europe’s Convergence Machine”," IBS Research Reports 03/2017, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    9. Guido Matias Cortes & Diego M. Morris, 2019. "Are Routine Jobs Moving South? Evidence from Changes in the Occupational Structure of Employment in the U.S. and Mexico," Working Paper series 19-15, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    10. Crepon,Bruno Jacques Jean Philippe & Premand,Patrick, 2018. "Creating new positions ? direct and indirect effects of a subsidized apprenticeship program," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8561, The World Bank.
    11. Antonio Martins-Neto & Nanditha Mathew & Pierre Mohnen & Tania Treibich, 2024. "Is There Job Polarization in Developing Economies? A Review and Outlook," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 39(2), pages 259-288.
    12. Gottlieb, Charles & Grobovšek, Jan & Poschke, Markus & Saltiel, Fernando, 2021. "Working from home in developing countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    13. Szymon Gorka & Wojciech Hardy & Roma Keister & Piotr Lewandowski, 2017. "Age, tasks and skills in European labour markets. Background paper for the world bank report “Growing United: Upgrading Europe’s Convergence Machine”," IBS Research Reports 04/2017, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    14. Gibbons Eric M. & Mukhopadhyay Sankar, 2020. "New Evidence on International Transferability of Human Capital," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-39, January.
    15. Guido Matias Cortes1 & Diego M. Morris, 2020. "Are routine jobs moving south? Evidence from changes in the occupational structure of employment in the USA and Mexico," WIDER Working Paper Series wp2020-11, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Reijnders, Laurie S.M. & de Vries, Gaaitzen J., 2018. "Technology, offshoring and the rise of non-routine jobs," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 412-432.
    17. Lewandowski, Piotr & Keister, Roma & Hardy, Wojciech & Górka, Szymon, 2017. "Routine and Ageing? The Intergenerational Divide in the Deroutinisation of Jobs in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 10732, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Wojciech Hardy & Roma Keister & Piotr Lewandowski, 2018. "Educational upgrading, structural change and the task composition of jobs in Europe," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 26(2), pages 201-231, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    skill building; skill biased; occupational classification; skills; specific human capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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