Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/298129 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
ADB Economics Working Paper Series No. 683
Publisher: 
Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila
Abstract: 
This study introduces a methodology to estimate the economy-specific task content of occupations across economies at different income levels. Combining these with employment data in 87 economies, the results show that occupations in low- and middle-income economies are more routine-intensive than in high-income economies, which is attributed to lower technology use in less-developed economies. Non-routine work continues to dominate in high-income economies while routine work remains in low-income and middle-income economies. These findings, using economy-specific estimates of occupational task content, contradict the assumption based on conventional measures that task content of occupations is converging globally. The finding of divergent trends in the relative routine intensity of work in developed and developing economies has important policy implications. Investment in skills, technology use, and participation in global value chains are key factors for work content and productivity to converge with those in high-income economies. The assumption that occupations are converging globally may also overestimate the role of routine-replacing technological change in explaining wage inequality in low- or middle-income economies.
Subjects: 
occupational task content
routine-task intensity
skills
jobs divergence
wage inequality
JEL: 
J24
J31
O14
O15
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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