Modelling the Impact of Digital Skills on Employment with a Macroeconomic Agent-Based Model

15 pages•Published: June 16, 2024

Dino Giovannoni, Evert Philip Knoesen and Jan Mentz

Abstract

This paper investigates how widespread strategic adoption of digital skills, technology and knowledge by firms would affect employment, inequality and the economy in general. A macroeconomic agent-based model (MABM) was developed to simulate micro-level interactions between economic agents in different markets, giving rise to emergent macroeconomic features. Agents representing individuals in the economy acquire different levels of skills as they progress through an education system. Based on a firm’s level of technological sophistication, it will employ a workforce that aligns with its skills requirements. The simulations show that if firms in the economy adopt higher levels of technology in their operations, higher levels of unemployment may emerge, in particular for the sector of the population with low levels of digital skills. The education system would need to be transformed to provide an inclusive, quality education that is aligned with the current and future needs of industry.

Keyphrases: agent based modelling, digital skills, digital transformation, inequality, unemployment

In: Hossana Twinomurinzi, Nkosikhona Theoren Msweli, Sibukele Gumbo, Tendani Mawela, Emmanuel Mtsweni, Peter Mkhize and Ernest Mnkandla (editors). Proceedings of the NEMISA Digital Skills Summit and Colloquium 2024, vol 6, pages 164-178.

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/9kzl
	https://doi.org/10.29007/8vk1

BibTeX entry

@inproceedings{NEMISADigitalSkills2024:Modelling_Impact_Digital_Skills,
  author    = {Dino Giovannoni and Evert Philip Knoesen and Jan Mentz},
  title     = {Modelling the Impact of Digital Skills on Employment with a Macroeconomic Agent-Based Model},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the NEMISA Digital Skills Summit and Colloquium 2024},
  editor    = {Hossana Twinomurinzi and Nkosikhona Theoren Msweli and Sibukele Gumbo and Tendani Mawela and Emmanuel Mtsweni and Peter Mkhize and Ernest Mnkandla},
  series    = {EPiC Series in Education Science},
  volume    = {6},
  publisher = {EasyChair},
  bibsource = {EasyChair, https://easychair.org},
  issn      = {2516-2306},
  url       = {/publications/paper/9kzl},
  doi       = {10.29007/8vk1},
  pages     = {164-178},
  year      = {2024}}

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