How digitalisation is changing occupational task and skill profiles
The project highlights how the digital transformation over the last 20 years has changed task and skill profiles in the Swiss labour market. The data shows that digital technologies have a greater impact on the skills required within an occupation than they do on changing the overall occupational st
Project description (completed research project)
An interdisciplinary team of researchers from social sciences and computational linguistics worked with data scientists to analyse job listings in German-speaking Switzerland from 2002 to 2020. To do so, the researchers developed a machine language model that automatically extracts the task and skill requirements from job descriptions and depicts them in a structured way. This data allowed a systematic analysis of the changes in demand for skill profiles for the first time, and an analysis of the actual skills required over time. The analysis shows that combinations of ICT (information and communication technology), analytical and social skills are now particularly sought after – particularly in more highly qualified occupations. Only specialised ICT skills translate into higher salaries.
Background
Little was known about how digitalisation transforms jobs in terms of the tasks to be performed and the skills required to do so. Due to a lack of suitable data, most studies have so far ignored possible shifts within occupations and have addressed only those occurring between occupations.
Aim
The project led by Marlis Buchmann from the University of Zurich had two main goals. First, it sought to develop new methods to analyse job advertisements automatically based on task and skill profile. Second, it aimed to understand the extent to which digital technologies change the tasks involved in a job and the skills required.
Relevance
This project has provided a structured dataset on task and skill profiles from job advertisements in Switzerland for the first time. New algorithms systematically record tasks and link them up with international occupation databases. This provides new insights into the transformation of the world of work and lays the basis for the monitoring of occupational requirements..
Results
Three main messages
Well-designed digital tools play a key role in obtaining meaningful information and generating knowledge. This study showed this in an exemplary way through the innovative use of natural language processing (NLP) to analyse the labour market.
Digitalisation primarily changes the required skill profiles within occupations rather than the occupational structure as a whole.
Wage premiums exist in the labour market for ICT skills that are not yet a core component of an occupational skill set.
Original title
Monitoring Task and Skill Profiles in the Digital Economy: Employers' Changing Skill Demand and Workers' Career Outcomes