Information Technology, Workplace Organization and the Demand for Employees of Different Education Levels: Firm-Level Evidence for the Swiss Economy

Abstract

This chapter aims at investigating at the firm level the relationship between the demand for employees with different levels of (vocational) education and some of the factors claimed to he responsible for determining this demand in the 1990s: use of modern information and communication technologies (internet, intranet) and new forms of workplace organization (team work, job rotation, modes of decision decentralization). The study is based on data for about 1,400 Swiss firms in manufacturing, construction and in the service sector collected by means of a survey. The results of multivariate analysis show that the intensive use of technology and new forms of workplace organization correlate positively (negatively) with the employment shares of high-educated (low-educated) personnel, and further that these effects strengthen each other. These results are consistent with the hypotheses of (a) skill-biased technical change and (b) skilled-biased organizational change.