Measuring and interpreting trends in the division of labour in the Netherlands

Semih Akçomak, Lex Borghans and Bas ter Weel

No 2010-060, MERIT Working Papers from United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT)

Abstract: This paper introduces indicators about the division of labour to measure and interpret recent trends in employment in the Netherlands. We show that changes in the division of labour occur at three different levels: the level of the individual worker, the level of the industry and the spatial level. At each level the current organisation of work is determined by an equilibrium of forces that glue tasks together and unbundled tasks. Communication costs are the main force for clustering or gluing together tasks; comparative advantage stimulates unbundling and specialisation. Our results show that on average the Netherlands has witnessed unbundling in the period 1996-2005. So, on average the advantages of specialisation have increased. These developments can explain to a considerable extent changes in the structure of employment. Especially at the spatial level our approach explains a substantial part of the increase in offshoring during this period.

Keywords: offshoring; tasks; technology; trade; labour market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F16 J23 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2010/wp2010-060.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Measuring and Interpreting Trends in the Division of Labour in the Netherlands (2011)
Working Paper: Measuring and Interpreting Trends in the Division of Labour in the Netherlands (2011)
Working Paper: Measuring and interpreting trends in the division of labour in the Netherlands (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:unm:unumer:2010060

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