Firm Dynamics, Adoption of New Technologies and Labor Markets

Over the last two decades, the world, and especially advanced and emerging economies,
are undergoing structural changes driven by the rise of advanced technologies such
as robots, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), sectoral shifts, changing
demographic structures, increasing migration inflow, and increasingly globalized
markets. Technological changes, migration, and the size distribution of firms may
have distributional effects for employment, growth, and thus on the entire economy.
Indeed, they reshape labour demand and its composition by influencing job creation, job
destruction, skill requirements, and the nature of work itself. Hence, understanding how
firms, employment, growth, productivity and occupations are affected is crucial for various purposes, including the implementation of policies that enable the entire economy to adapt more effectively. Despite significant advancements in economic research, previous studies have often been constrained by methodological limitations, including data issues. By employing advanced methodological approaches and leveraging extensive administrative and survey databases, this thesis aims to offer nuanced insights into critical economic mechanisms that shape contemporary firms dynamics, adoption of new technologies and labour markets. This research focuses on the Belgian economy, which presents a unique and interesting opportunity for investigating the intricate dynamics of firms, productivity, human and physical capital, and employment mechanisms.
My results show that, first, the size distribution of firms can be approximated by a
lognormal distribution. Second, capital productivity growth depends on the sector and
skills, and it is mainly driven by technological changes associated with skills. Efficiency
changes play no role. Third, citizenship acquisition increases the labour market integration of immigrants. This is more beneficial for non-EU migrants. Finally, I find that digitalised firms experienced higher employment growth relative to non-digitalised firms. The effect is particularly pronounced in large firms and reflects both faster employment growth in expanding firms and slower declines in shrinking firms. It also significantly altered workforce composition, by decreasing the share of low-educated workers and an increase in the share of highly educated workers, alongside shifts in the age distribution towards middle-aged workers.