The Use of New Technology and Occupational Mobility: An Event History Analysis of the Swiss Labor Market

The investigation of the consequences of new technologies has a long standing tradition within economics. Particularly, labor economists are wondering how the introduction of new technologies, e.g. Personal Computers, have shaped labor markets. Former research has concentrated on the question of whether on-the-job use of PCs creates a wage bonus for employees. In this paper, we investigate whether the use of PCs increases employees’ probability of an upward shift in their employment status and whether it reduces the risk of involuntary labor market exits. We do so by applying event history analysis to the Swiss Labor Market Survey, a random sample of 3028 respondents, and by analyzing a Panel sub-sample of 650 respondents conducted recently in Switzerland. Our results show that on-the-job use of PCs was beneficial for employees in the past by increasing their probability of an upward shift by approximately 50%. The analysis also suggests that PC use reduces the risk and duration of unemployment. However, these latter results fail to reach statistical significance.

Occupational mobility chains and the role of job opportunities for upward, lateral and downward mobility in Switzerland

This paper addresses the rarely studied relationship between job vacancies and inter-firm upward, lateral, and downward status mobility in an occupationally segmented labor market, taking Switzerland as the example. To conceptualize mobility mechanisms in this type of labor market, we introduce the concept of “occupational mobility chains” and test its validity. This concept provides the backdrop for developing time-dependent measures of individual job opportunities based on Swiss Job Monitor data. We link these measures with career data taken from the Swiss Life History Study and employ event history analysis to test different propositions of the ways in which status mobility is contingent on the number and the status of vacant positions. Results support our assumption that in occupationally segmented labor markets vacant positions affect status mobility only to the degree that they are located within workers’ occupational mobility chains.

How specific is apprenticeship training? Evidence from inter-firm and occupational mobility after graduation

Do apprenticeships convey mainly general or also firm- and occupation-specific human capital? Specific human capital may allow for specialization gains, but may also lead to allocative inefficiency due to mobility barriers. We analyse the case of Switzerland, which combines a comprehensive, high-quality apprenticeship system with a lightly regulated labour market. To assess human capital transferability after standardized firm-based apprenticeship training, we analyse inter-firm and occupational mobility and their effects on post-training wages. Using a longitudinal data set based on the PISA 2000 survey, we find high inter-firm and low occupational mobility within one year after graduation. Accounting for endogenous changes, we find a negative effect of occupation changes on wages, but no significant wage effect for firm changes. This indicates that occupation-specific human capital is an important component of apprenticeship training and that skills are highly transferable within an occupational field.

Statusinkonsistenz im Lebensverlauf

Sozialbiographische Überlegungen und die Lebensverlaufsperspektive tragen zu einem Fortschritt in der Inkonsistenzforschung bei. Wichtige theoretische und methodische Voraussetzungen sind dabei die Berücksichtigung der Dynamik von Statusinkonsistenz und die Kontrolle der Zeitabhängigkeit von Statuslagen. Dadurch wird es möglich, Entstehen, Verschwinden, Dauer und Folgen von Statusinkonsistenz detailliert zu untersuchen. Die empirischen Befunde des Artikels zeigen, daß die Verortung von Individuen in einer Statushierarchie im Lebenslauf zunehmend mit vergleichbaren Plazierungen in anderen Statusdimensionen übereinstimmt. Dies verstärkt sich in der Abfolge von Geburtskohorten; ferner finden sich eher Frauen als Männer in ungünstigen statusinkonsistenten Lagen. Schließlich hat Statusinkonsistenz deutliche Auswirkungen auf berufliche Mobilität von Männern. Eine ungünstige Statuslage 'erzwingt' Mobilität, wenn, gemessen an der Bildung, unerwartete Statusverluste ausgeglichen werden sollen. Männer mit unerwarteten Statusgewinnen versuchen dagegen, ihre vorteilhafte Statuslage abzusichern, und sind eher immobil.

A Gendered Triangle? Intergenerational Social Mobility in 20th Century Switzerland

In the light of the dramatically changed social structure of women, surprisingly little gender differences have been found in temporal changes of effects of social origin on occupational class. Using a recently developed methodological approach and Swiss data on birth cohorts from 1925 to 1978, this paper takes a closer look by considering not only the total effect of social origin but also the individual elements of the indirect effect mediated by individual’s education. It finds that this indirect path have changed indeed differently for women and men, but the findings on the direct effect remain mixed, partially because this path seems to be especially sensitive to the conceptualization of social class.