From Occupations to Embedded Skills: A Cross-Country Comparison

Abstract

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

The changing nature of jobs in Central and Eastern Europe

“…CEE economies also saw manual tasks steadily falling, in line with the skill-biased technological change hypothesis. This pattern was identified in the ten CEE countries that joined the EU between 2004 and 2013 [9], and again, in a separate study, in Poland and six other emerging economies around the world (Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, India, Sri Lanka, and Turkey) [10]. Similar changes were identified in the former Commonwealth of Independent States and other CEE countries [11].…”

“…It declined only in Hungary and Slovenia; while in the Baltic States and Romania it increased the most [9]. The growth of routine cognitive tasks was also apparent in other emerging countries around the world (most noticeably in Brazil), with the exception of Chile [10].…”

“…The US O*NET database is the most reliable data source today and most often used in studies on low-and middle-income countries [1], [9], [10], [11]. Such studies assume that the contents of particular occupations around the world are the same as in the US.…”

On the Educational Curriculum in Finance and Technology

“…These are the middle-level skilled roles. However, when it comes to ICT in the fintech era, the transition that seems more relevant is that from routine cognitive (and even manual) skills to non-routine cognitive skills, involving primarily analytical, but sometimes even inter-personal, tasks (Aedo, et al, 2013). The design of fintech applications requires both an understanding of finance and high-level technical skills, e.g.…”

Educational upgrading, structural change and the task composition of jobs in Europe

“…Aedo et al . () showed that, between the early 1990s and the middle 2000s, nonroutine cognitive tasks grew at the expense of manual tasks in seven emerging economies around the world. Hardy et al .…”