Employment effects of digitisation - a clarification

Author: Kurt Vogler-Ludwig

Publisher: Wirtschaftsdienst 12/2017

Year: 2017

Language: German

A forward looking analysis of the employment effects of digital technologies and a an answer to the one-sided and false description of the job risks of digitisation by Frey/Osborne and others.

The paper describes the digitisation effects on product and labour markets from three angles:

  • From a theoretical viewpoint the paper explains the relationship between technological change and employment with the purpose to identify the determinants of technology assessment.
  • From the analytical viewpoint, the peculiarities of digital markets are identified in order to see the differences to „analogue“ markets.
  • From the prospective viewpoint, the expected effects of digital technologies on German product and labour markets are quantified, based on Economix‘s forecast “German Labour Market 2030” (Vogler-Ludwig et al. 2016).

This is done by both, revealing the effects of digital technologies on structural transition and calculating the balance of job losses and gains at the macro-level.

Link to publication (in German)