Current Perspectives on the Employment Impact of Digital Technologies

Abstract

This paper examines the ongoing debate about whether digital innovations are an opportunity or a risk for employment in advanced economies. The main frameworks of analysis and the stylised fact of the employment effect of technological progress are explained before presenting the most recent empirical insights on the relationship between digital innovations, productivity growth and employment growth. Finally, the impact of digital technologies is examined for varying types of skill composition of labour and the implications in terms of unemployment and income inequalities are raised. The paper offers a review of the literature on the topic.

Keywords: Digital technologies, employment, job polarisation, productivity, skill-biased technological change.

JEL Classification: L24, O33, D24