Computers as stepping stones? Technological change and equality of labor market opportunities

Arbeitspapier

This paper analyzes whether technological change improves equality of labor market opportunities by decreasing returns to parental background. We find that in Germany during the 1990s, computerization improved the access to technologyadopting occupations for workers with low-educated parents, and reduced their wage penalty within these occupations. We also show that this significantly contributed to a decline in the overall wage penalty experienced by workers from disadvantaged parental backgrounds over this time period. Competing mechanisms, such as skill-specific labor supply shocks and skill- upgrading, do not explain these findings.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: ZEW Discussion Papers ; No. 22-014

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure ; Labor Demand ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity ; Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials ; Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion ; Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
• Subject: skill-biased technical change ; wage inequality ; equality of opportunity ; intergenerational persistence ; parental background ; class ceiling

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Arntz, Melanie ; Lipowski, Cäcilia ; Neidhöfer, Guido ; Zierahn, Ulrich
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): ZEW - Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung
• (where): Mannheim
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/259801
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET