Analysis of the Impact of Innovation on Employment Using CIS II Data

Analysis of the Impact of Innovation on Employment Using CIS II Data

Information technology has penetrated every sector of the working world while the unemployment rate is increasing. Therefore, the employment effects of technical progress have become a major issue again in the past years. Even though employment effects of innovations have been studied intensively for years, they have not been empirically clarified yet. This is mainly due to methodical problems which could not be eliminated with the data material that we have had thus far. Spillover effects (innovations in a specific sector or in a specific technology which induce progress in other sectors) constitute a huge obstacle to empirical research. Another hurdle for research is the fact that positive employment effects of innovations that are limited to one specific sector or country might be overcompensated - due to negative effects - in other sectors or countries and will then generate an overall negative effect. In this project we will attempt to solve these methodical problems by applying the CIS-II-Data Set (Community Innovation Survey). It is particularly suited for this purpose, as it contains comparable and consistent company data of 15 countries of the European Union and includes detailed information on innovation and employment issues. The findings can deliver more precise answers to the question as to which extent innovations affect employment. Moreover, we can infer adequate measures for employment politics from these results. Last but not least, these evaluations can provide methodical insights for future surveys.

Project members

Client/Allowance
Europäische Kommission (DG XIII), Brüssel, BE
Cooperation partner