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Within and Between Firm Trends in Job Polarization: Role of Globalization and Technology

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  • Pekkala Kerr, Sari
  • Maczulskij, Terhi
  • Maliranta, Mika
Abstract
This paper analyzes occupational polarization within and across firms using comprehensive matched employer-employee panel data from Finland. The occupational distribution in Finland has been polarizing over the last few decades, with mid-level production and clerical jobs eroding while low-skill service occupations and high-skill specialist occupations gain share. We find that the phenomenon is taking place within existing firms, as well as due to firm entry and exit. Service jobs are increasing through the entry-exit dynamics, but also via establishment level restructuring among continuing firms. Routine jobs, including mid-level plant operating jobs, are being destroyed both among continuing firms and at the entry-exit margin. The share of high-level occupations increases largely within continuing firms. Within the continuing firms the job polarization appears to be related to the trade of goods and services, as well as the outsourcing of tasks. Firms with high R&D expenditures and ICT use are more prone to lay off process and production workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Pekkala Kerr, Sari & Maczulskij, Terhi & Maliranta, Mika, 2016. "Within and Between Firm Trends in Job Polarization: Role of Globalization and Technology," ETLA Working Papers 41, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    • Handle: RePEc:rif:wpaper:41
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    Cited by:

    1. Kässi, Otto, 2022. "The Labor-market Effects of Service Offshoring: A Synthetic Control Approach with High-dimensional Microdata," ETLA Working Papers 97, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    2. Terhi Maczulskij, 2024. "Occupational Mobility of Routine Workers," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 86(5), pages 1198-1229, October.
    3. Fonseca, Tiago & Lima, Francisco & Pereira, Sonia C., 2018. "Understanding productivity dynamics: A task taxonomy approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 289-304.
    4. Egger, Hartmut & Kreickemeier, Udo & Moser, Christoph & Wrona, Jens, 2024. "Offshoring and job polarisation between firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    5. Arntz, Melanie & Genz, Sabrina & Gregory, Terry & Lehmer, Florian & Zierahn-Weilage, Ulrich, 2024. "De-routinization in the fourth industrial revolution: Firm-level evidence," ZEW Discussion Papers 24-005, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. Kauhanen, Antti & Maczulskij, Terhi & Riukula, Krista, 2020. "Heterogeneous Impacts of the Decentralization of Collective Bargaining," ETLA Working Papers 83, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    7. Bustos, Emil, 2023. "The Effect of Centrally Bargained Wages on Firm Growth," Working Paper Series 1456, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    8. Flora Bellone, 2018. "New Impacts of Globalization : Introduction to Selected Papers presented at the 66th Annual," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 503-504, pages 79-85.
    9. Heyman, Fredrik, 2016. "Job polarization, job tasks and the role of firms," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 246-251.
    10. Tuomo Alasoini & Seppo Tuomivaara, 2023. "Occupational change, computer use and the complementarity effect in the digital age: Evidence from Finland," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 44(3), pages 755-772, August.
    11. Merja Kauhanen & Terhi Maczulskij, 2017. "Where do workers from declining routine jobs go and does migration matter?," Working Papers 314, Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, The Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.
    12. Cirillo, Valeria & Evangelista, Rinaldo & Guarascio, Dario & Sostero, Matteo, 2021. "Digitalization, routineness and employment: An exploration on Italian task-based data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    13. Cortes, Guido Matias & Salvatori, Andrea, 2019. "Delving into the demand side: Changes in workplace specialization and job polarization," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 164-176.
    14. Jasmine Mondolo, 2022. "The composite link between technological change and employment: A survey of the literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 1027-1068, September.
    15. Fredrik Heyman & Fredrik Sjöholm, 2019. "Globalization, Job Tasks and the Demand for Different Occupations," Travail et Emploi, La DARES, vol. 0(1), pages 67-91.
    16. Föll, Tobias & Hartmann, Anna, 2019. "A Joint Theory of Polarization and Deunionization," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203558, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Job polarization; offshoring; international trade; firm; establishment; technology; R&D; ICT;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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