Tobias Schultheiss, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Does updating education curricula accelerate technology adoption in the workplace? Evidence from dual vocational education and training curricula in Switzerland, Journal of Technology Transfer, Vol. 49 (1), 2024. (Journal Article)
In an environment of accelerating technological change and increasing digitalization, firms need to adopt new technologies faster than ever before to stay competitive. This paper examines whether updates of education curricula help to bring new technologies faster into firms’ workplaces. We study technology changes and curriculum updates from an early wave of digitalization (i.e., computer-numerically controlled machinery, computer-aided design, and desktop publishing software). We take a text-as-data approach and tap into two novel data sources to measure change in educational content and the use of technology at the workplace: first, vocational education curricula and, second, firms’ job advertisements. To examine the causal effects of adding new technology skills to curricula on the diffusion of these technologies in firms’ workplaces (measured by job advertisements), we use an event study design. Our results show that curriculum updates substantially shorten the time it takes for new technologies to arrive in firms’ workplaces, especially for mainstream firms. |
|
Fabienne Kiener, Christian Eggenberger, Uschi Backes-Gellner, The role of occupational skill sets in the digital transformation: how it progress shapes returns to specialization and social skills, Journal of Business Economics / Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaft, Vol. 94 (1), 2024. (Journal Article)
Workers’ occupational skill sets play a crucial role in successfully handling digital transformation. We investigate whether and how different types of occupational skill sets benefit from digital transformation. We theoretically and empirically analyze wage returns of workers in occupations with more or less specialized skill sets and with more or less social skills when IT increases in their industry. Applying natural language processing methods to the texts of occupational training curricula, we develop measures for occupational specialization and social skills. We use vocational education and training curricula from Switzerland because they cover approx. two-thirds of the working population. Using curricula, industry-level IT data and individual-level administrative wage data, our individual fixed-effects analyses show that IT progress leads to higher wage returns for workers in highly specialized occupations but not for workers in more general occupations. In addition, we find that high levels of social skills cannot make up for this difference when IT advances. However, our results indicate that for workers with high specialization, a combination with high social skills generates additional benefits when IT advances. Overall, our results suggest that, contrary to typical assumptions in educational policy debates, workers with specialized occupational skill sets - possibly in combination with high social skills - appear to be the ones who are particularly well prepared to cope with digital transformation. |
|
Tobias Schlegel, Uschi Backes-Gellner, The role of fields of study for the effects of higher education institutions on regional firm location, Small Business Economics, Vol. 61 (4), 2023. (Journal Article)
The literature on knowledge spillovers provides evidence that higher education institutions (HEIs) positively affect regional firm location (i.e., start-ups or firms located in a region). However, less is known about how HEIs in different fields of study impact regional firm location in different industries. To investigate this question, we exploit the establishment of universities of applied sciences (UASs)—bachelor’s degree-granting three-year HEIs in Switzerland. We find that the effects of UASs are heterogeneous across fields of study and industries. UASs specializing in “chemistry and the life sciences” and “business, management, and services” are the only UASs that positively affect regional firm location across several industries. Positive effects emerge in service industries characterized by radical service, incremental product, or process innovations. Thus, UASs are not a one-size-fits-all solution for increasing regional firm location. Instead, only UASs specializing in particular fields of study positively influence firm location in certain industries. |
|
Chiara Zisler, Damiano Pregaldini, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Opening doors for immigrants: The role of occupational skills and workplace-based cultural skills for a successful labor market entry, In: Swiss VET Conference. 2023. (Conference Presentation)
|
|
Dietmar Harhoff, Patrick Lehnert, Curdin Pfister, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Innovation effects and knowledge complementarities in a diverse research landscape, In: Swiss VET Conference. 2023. (Conference Presentation)
|
|
Patricia Pálffy, Patrick Lehnert, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Social norms and gendered occupational choices of men and women: Time to turn the tide?, Industrial Relations, Vol. 62 (4), 2023. (Journal Article)
We analyze the relationship between social gender norms and adolescents' occupational choices by combining regional votes on constitutional amendments on gender equality with job application data from a large job board for apprenticeships. The results show that adolescent males in regions with stronger traditional social gender norms are more likely to apply for typically male occupations. This finding does not hold for females, suggesting that incentivizing men to break the norms and choose gender-atypical occupations (e.g., in healthcare) can be even more effective in accelerating advancement toward gender equality in the labor market than incentivizing women to choose STEM occupations. |
|
Dietmar Harhoff, Patrick Lehnert, Curdin Pfister, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Innovation effects and knowledge complementarities in a diverse research landscape, In: International Conference on Technical and Vocational Education and Training. 2023. (Conference Presentation)
|
|
Silvio Meier, Financial Literacy, Education and Career Aspirations: an internationals comparison with survey data, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Master's Thesis)
|
|
Simona Fust, Geschlechtstypische Berufswahlentscheidungen: Eine empirische Analyse von Interventionsmöglichkeiten für die Schweiz, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Bachelor's Thesis)
|
|
Pascal Kägi, On the relation of social norms and green jobs: An empirical analysis for Switzerland, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Bachelor's Thesis)
|
|
Eric Bettinger, Madison Dell, Patrick Lehnert, Uschi Backes-Gellner, The effect of postsecondary institutions on local economies: a bird's-eye view, In: SASE Annual Conference. 2023. (Conference Presentation)
|
|
Andreas Bühler, Patrick Lehnert, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Curriculum Updates in Vocational Education and Changes in Skills and Wages, In: SASE Annual Conference 2023. 2023. (Conference Presentation)
|
|
Patricia Pálffy, Luc Sandfort, Martin Schneider, Uschi Backes-Gellner, How to avoid losing young talents in early career stages? Resource configurations that enable a smooth labor market entry, In: SASE Annual Conference 2023. 2023. (Conference Presentation)
|
|
Patricia Pálffy, Patrick Lehnert, Uschi Backes-Gellner, One size does not fit all: A large-scale field experiment on countering gender-typicality in occupational choices of women and men, In: SASE Annual Conference 2023. 2023. (Conference Presentation)
|
|
Chiara Zisler, Damiano Pregaldini, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Opening doors for immigrants: The role of occupational skills and workplace-based cultural skills for a successful labor market entry, In: SASE Annual Conference. 2023. (Conference Presentation)
|
|
Tobias Schultheiss, How is Firms’ Competitiveness and Workers’ Adaptability in a Technology-Driven Economy Affected by Educational Innovations? An Econometric Analysis., University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Dissertation)
|
|
Fabienne Kiener, Skill Bundles and Labour Market Outcomes: Identifying Different Types of Skills in Curriculum Texts by Applying Natural Language Processing, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Dissertation)
|
|
Tobias Schultheiss, Uschi Backes‐Gellner, Different degrees of skill obsolescence across hard and soft skills and the role of lifelong learning for labor market outcomes, Industrial Relations, Vol. 62 (3), 2023. (Journal Article)
This paper examines the role of lifelong learning in counteracting skill depreciation and obsolescence. We differentiate between occupations with more hard skills versus more soft skills and draw on representative job advertisement data that contain machine-learning categorized skill requirements and cover the Swiss job market in great detail across occupations (from 1950 to 2019). We examine lifelong learning effects for “harder” versus “softer” occupations, thereby analyzing the role of training in counteracting skill depreciation in occupations that are differently affected by skill depreciation. Our results reveal novel empirical patterns regarding the benefits of lifelong learning, which are consistent with theoretical explanations based on structurally different skill depreciation rates: In harder occupations, with large shares of fast-depreciating hard skills, the role of lifelong learning is primarily as a hedge against unemployment risks rather than a boost to wages. By contrast, in softer occupations, in which workers build on more value-stable soft-skill foundations, the role of lifelong learning instead lies mostly in acting as a boost for upward career mobility and leads to larger wage gains. |
|
Andreas Bühler, Patrick Lehnert, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Curriculum Updates in Vocational Education and Changes in Skills and Wages, In: XXXI Meeting of the Economics of Education Association (AEDE). 2023. (Conference Presentation)
|
|
Patricia Pálffy, Patrick Lehnert, Uschi Backes-Gellner, One size does not fit all: A large-scale field experiment on countering gender-typicality in occupational choices of women and men, In: XXXI Meeting of the Economics of Education Association (AEDE). 2023. (Conference Presentation)
|
|