A new measurement approach for identifying high-polluting jobs across European countries
This paper develops a novel classification of high-polluting occupations for a large
sample of European countries. Unlike previous efforts in the literature, the classification
exploits country-level data on air polluting emission intensity by industry. The country-level
data allows to capture important cross-country differences, due to differences in
technology and in production focus. Applying the new classification to European Labour
Force Survey data shows that, on average across the countries covered, about 4% of
workers are employed in high-polluting jobs, ranging from 9% in Czechia and the Slovak
Republic to around 2% in Austria. These shares do not exhibit any clear decreasing
trend over the past decade. High-polluting jobs are unequally distributed, being over-represented
among men, workers with lower and medium educational attainment and those living in
rural areas.
Published on April 24, 2024
In series:OECD Economics Department Working Papersview more titles