Global Divergence in the De-routinization of Jobs

Piotr Lewandowski, Albert Park () and Simone Schotte ()
Additional contact information
Albert Park: Asian Development Bank
Simone Schotte: United Nations–University World Institute for Development Economics Research

No 683, ADB Economics Working Paper Series from Asian Development Bank

Abstract: This study introduces a methodology to estimate the economy-specific task content of occupations across economies at different income levels. Combining these with employment data in 87 economies, the results show that occupations in low- and middle-income economies are more routine-intensive than in high-income economies, which is attributed to lower technology use in less-developed economies. Non-routine work continues to dominate in high-income economies while routine work remains in low-income and middle-income economies. These findings, using economy-specific estimates of occupational task content, contradict the assumption based on conventional measures that task content of occupations is converging globally. The finding of divergent trends in the relative routine intensity of work in developed and developing economies has important policy implications. Investment in skills, technology use, and participation in global value chains are key factors for work content and productivity to converge with those in high-income economies. The assumption that occupations are converging globally may also overestimate the role of routine-replacing technological change in explaining wage inequality in low- or middle-income economies.

Keywords: occupational task content; routine-task intensity; skills; jobs divergence; wage inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J31 O14 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2023-05-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma and nep-tid
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The global divergence in the de-routinisation of jobs (2022)
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