Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/51910 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 5494
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Following the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT), firms are likely to face increasing skill requirements. They may react either by training or hiring the new skills, or by a combination of both. We first show that ICT are indeed skill biased and we then assess the relative importance of external and internal labour market strategies. We show that skill upgrading following ICT adoption takes place mostly through internal labour markets adjustments. The introduction of ICT is associated with an upward shift in firms' occupational structure, of which one third is due to hiring and firing workers from and to the external labour market, whereas two-thirds are due to promotions. Moreover, we find no compelling evidence of external labour market strategies based on excess turnover. In contrast, French firms heavily rely on training in order to upgrade the skill level of their workforce, even if this varies across industries.
Subjects: 
technical change
labour turnover
skill bias
training
internal labour markets
JEL: 
J23
J24
J41
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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