Is the Nature of Jobs Changing? The Role of Technological Progress and Structural Change in the Labour Market

We examine the process of radical transformation that during the last decades has changed labor markets in developed countries and, in particular, the nature of jobs. Indeed, the advances in ICT and robotics have generated the concern that automation could substitute people in a wide range of activities, therefore contributing to the potential increase in the fraction of jobs at risk in the next future. However, empirical evidence on labour demand in the majority of OECD countries emphasizes a process of labour market polarization that consists in the hollowing out of routine occupations accompanied by a quasi-simultaneous rise of non-routine occupations, both high skilled conceptual and manual low skilled ones. This process has been explained by the routinization hypothesis, whereby computer-based technologies allow machines to perform repetitive tasks and replace workers in routine jobs where such tasks are prevalent. In this perspective, structural and occupational changes are naturally interwined with technological change; their understanding can therefore help unravelling the features of new technologies and how they can influence demand for skills. In such a setting, entrepreneurship can play an important role as driver of innovation and employment growth.