Workforce Structural Shifts Effects by Sectors of Technical Advancement in Visegrad Group Regions

Abstract

The study discusses problems of structural effects in workforce changes and the role of specialization in knowledge/technology intensity sectors. The subject of research covers workforce structure in sectors distinguished according to technological advancement, i.e. high-tech, mid-high, mid-low and low-tech industries as well as knowledge-intensive services, less knowledge-intensive services and other sectors. The analysis covers both, the level and structure of workforce. Shift-share analysis (SSA) constituted the research tool applied in analysing workforce number structural changes as one of the tools for investigating structural changes occurring in regional space in a given time range. SSA allows for analysing fluctuations in employment rate characteristic in a given region at the background of reference area (e.g. European Union), as well as their assessment in the context of the occurring structural and competitive changes. The scope of research covers the structure of workforce in NUTS 2 regions of the Visegrad Group countries in the period 2009-2012. The objective of the paper is to identify and assess structural effects of workforce changes in Visegrad Group regions and the classification of studied regions by workforce structure.