Structural decomposition analysis on employment changes in selected countries

The objective of this paper was to measure the drivers of the variation in employment and to make a comparative analysis of the results among 43 countries in the period 2000-2014. The methodology of Structural Decomposition Analysis was used to decompose the employment variation into four effects: intensity of labor use, technology, structure of final demand and volume of final demand. The results showed that the increase in labor productivity (negative intensity effect) is the main responsible for the loss of jobs in the economy, a figure close to 50% of the countries' total jobs in the 2000-2014 period of analysis. The creation of jobs occurs mainly due to final demand effects. However, the effect of demand structure tends to be negative for developed countries and positive for developing countries. In developing countries, the effect of final demand structure is relatively more important in creating jobsthan final demand volume effect. The inter-sector relocation of employment, disappearance of professions and increased requirements for qualification lead workers to a continuous learning process, adaptation to new technologies and a probable change of sector of activity in their professional life.