Can Task-Biased Technological Change Explain Changes in Regional Labour Market Disparities?

The objective of this research project is to gain a deeper understanding of how technological progress contributes to changes in labour market disparities between European regions. The key idea is that different regions have different task intensities due to different sectoral specialisations. Another reason could be that urban areas constitute suitable environments for producing complex goods and services which require high shares of non-routine interactive tasks relative to rural areas. These different task intensities imply that regions will be differentially affected by task-biased technological change (TBTC), giving rise to technology-induced changes in regional labour market outcomes. For our analysis, we plan to first document changes in regional labour market disparities as well as regions' task specialisations in European countries over time using European Union Labour Force Survey data and German administrative employment data at the regional level. Secondly, we adjust the theoretical framework in Goos, Manning and Salomons (2011) to be able to predict changes in the structure of regional labour demand due to TBTC. This allows identifying the impact of TBTC on regional employment structures. Thirdly, we plan to broaden the analysis by also investigating alternative adjustment mechanisms (changes in unemployment and migration), and by outlining outcomes for different worker groups.

Duration: April 2013-September 2014

• Terry Gregory, ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Department of Labour Markets, Human Resources and Social Policy, Mannheim
• Dr. Ulrich Zierahn, ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Department of Labour Markets, Human Resources and Social Policy, MannheimAssistant Prof. Dr. Anna Salomons, Utrecht University
• Assistant Prof. Dr. Anna Salomons, Utrecht University
• Associate Prof. Dr. Maarten Goos, Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven)
• Associate Prof. Michael Handel, Northeastern University, Boston
• Prof. Dr. Alan Manning, London School of Economics
• Prof. Dr. David Autor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge