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New Measures of Workforce Skills in the EU

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2020

Lili Kang ,
Mary O'Mahony  and
Fei Peng
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Abstract

This paper presents new data series designed to yield a more complete picture of the growth in average skill levels embedded in the EU workforce, comparing with competitor countries such as the US and China. Harmonised data from EU surveys are employed to extend coverage in existing databases to more countries, to cover the period of the financial crisis, and to skills acquired through informal workforce training. The results indicate growth in labour quality in the EU15 marginally below the US, convergence of the group of new member states to the EU15 but no sign of convergence of China to more developed regions. There is evidence of a pronounced rise in labour quality in most countries after 2007, consistent with theories of labour hoarding, but with some notable exceptions. Expanding the conventional measures of labour quality to include informal training leads to small but significant increases in the growth of human capital in some EU15 member states.

Keywords

Workforce skillstrainingfinancial crisis
Type
Research Articles
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 220 , April 2012 , pp. R17 - R28
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

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Footnotes

The authors acknowledge helpful comments from colleagues at Birmingham and two referees. This research was undertaken as part of the INDICSER project, funded by the European Commission, Research Directorate General, as part of the 7th Framework Programme, Theme 8: Socio-Economic Sciences and Humanities, Grant Agreement no. 244709.

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