The Skill Bias: Comparative Evidence and an Econometric Test

Many empirical studies have shown how technological change, organisational change and globalisation can be alternatively (or jointly) seen as causes for skill bias. In this paper, first the empirical literature on these issues is discussed and compared and then some evidence on the G-7 countries showing a clear upskilling trend in manufacturing industries over the ‘80s – is presented. Then an illustrative example is put forward: the panel analysis of a sample of 488 Italian manufacturing firms shows how the upskilling trend of employment is a function of the reorganisational strategy adopted by the firms, while technological change and FDI seem to play negligible roles. In other words, organisational change at the workfloor level seems to drive the upskilling of the labour force. JEL classification: O33 * Department of Economic and Social Sciences, Università Cattolica, via Emilia Parmense 84, I 29100 Piacenza, phone: +39-0523-599301, fax: +39-0523-599303. Corresponding author’s email: [email protected] (Marco Vivarelli) Acknowledgments: thanks are due to the research unit of Mediocredito Centrale, especially Dott. Giovanni Scanagatta, for providing the database used in this study. Thanks are also due to Prof. Claudio Lucifora and Dott. Lorenzo Cappellari for permission to use the INPS database. Financial support by CNR and MURST is gratefully acknowledged. A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the AITEG workshop on “The impact of innovation and globalisation in Europe”, which was held at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, on 25-26 May 2001; comments received by participants were extremely useful.