Cities, Tasks and Skills

Arbeitspapier

This research applies a task-based approach to measure and interpret changes in the employment structure of the 168 largest US cities in the period 1990-2009. As a result of technological change some tasks can be placed at distance, while others require proximity. We construct a measure of task connectivity to investigate which tasks are more likely to require proximity relative to others. Our results suggest that cities with higher shares of connected tasks experienced higher employment growth. This result is robust to a variety of other explanations including industry composition, routinisation, and the complementarity between skills and cities.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 8053

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Demand and Supply of Labor: General ; Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: General ; Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights: General
• Subject: occupations ; tasks ; cities ; employment

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Kok, Suzanne ; ter Weel, Bas
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2014

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/96763
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET