ZEW Discussion Papers
The Employment Impact of Cleaner Production on the Firm Level: Empirical Evidence from a Survey in Five European Countries
Rennings, Klaus and Thomas Zwick (2001), The Employment Impact of Cleaner Production on the Firm Level: Empirical Evidence from a Survey in Five European Countries, ZEW Discussion Paper No. 01-08, Mannheim. Download
This paper analyses the determinants of employment reactions of firms when
environmental innovations have been carried out. It differentiates hereby
between employment increases and decreases. The data stem from a telephone
survey covering more than 1500 firms in five European countries that have
introduced environmental innovations recently. Environmentally beneficial
product and service innovations create jobs in contrast to process innovations.
Employment changes occur in the wake of major innovations only and
especially in small firms and firms with positive sales expectations. While
innovations purely motivated by environmental goals tend not to have
employment effects, cost reductions envisaged by environmental innovations
reduce employment. We detect skill biased technological change of
environmental innovations.
Keywords: Environmental technologies, cleaner production, innovation, labour demand
