International Differences in the Effect of Skills on Job Mobility: A Schumpeterian Perspective

Abstract

Making use of an international survey that directly assess the cognitive skills of the adult population, I document systematic differences in the effect of skills on job mobility across the 37 countries in the sample. While economic growth is associated with relatively higher job mobility among skilled workers, the prevalence of information and communication technology (ICT) in the workplace is associated with relatively lower job mobility among skilled workers. The documented patterns are in line with Schumpeterian growth models of creative destruction in which skilled workers transition to jobs with advanced technologies more easily.