Digitalization, Change in Skill Distance between Occupations and Worker Mobility: A Gravity Model Approach

Arnaud Dupuy (), Morgan Raux () and Sara Signorelli ()
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Arnaud Dupuy: University of Luxembourg
Morgan Raux: University of Luxembourg
Sara Signorelli: CREST

No 17535, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The recent digital revolution has significantly broadened the scope of IT-related tasks in most occupations in the labor market. In this paper, we document these changes, we propose a novel conceptual framework for thinking about the effect of technological change that incorporates the changing task distance between occupations, and we investigate its impact on worker mobility using a gravity equation approach. Our results reveal that the evolution of skill distance between jobs significantly affected mobility patterns, disproportionately favoring workers with preexisting knowledge of digital tools. Finally, we micro-found our gravity equation through a matching model to evaluate mobility in counterfactual scenarios without technological change.

Keywords: occupation mobility; technological change; search and matching (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 J24 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 67 pages
Date: 2024-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma and nep-tid
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