Labour market effects of technical progress and structural change

Abstract

"This article revolves around the interconnection between technical progress, elasticity in the demand for goods, and employment. This connection can be used to explain differences in regional unemployment: loss of jobs is ascribed to elasticity in the demand for goods and to technical progress together with product lifecycles linked to this. The argument that, in the case of elastic demand for goods, boosts in productivity lead to growth in employment while an inelastic demand for goods results in a drop in employment is illustrated by means of a numerical example and formalised in a model. The effect of product lifecycle on employment is also substantiated empirically by comparing stylized facts from the German economy and those of Anglo-Saxon countries. These analyses contain important implications for regional development measures. Development measures that are oriented in exactly the same way (between regions) in respect to time and space can have opposing effects on employment." (text excerpt, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Blien, U. (2010): Arbeitsmarkteffekte von technischem Fortschritt und strukturellem Wandel. In: U. Blien, W. Flieger & R. Schmitt (Hrsg.) (2010): Ökonomie, Technologie und Region : Voraussetzungen, Formen und Folgen des Strukturwandels, p. 301-320.