Digital economy, technological competencies and the job matching process

Mastering digital skills is an increasingly important factor in the job matching process.
This paper employs experimental methods to study how recruiters assess digital skills in
the labour markets of Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The aim is to determine
the causal impact of job applicants’ digital competences on recruiters’ assessment within
the hiring process. The analysis further explores the heterogeneous effects of digital skills
in the distribution of opportunities for candidates with varying levels of education applying
to high- and mid/low-skilled jobs. Our results show that intermediate and advanced digital
skills increase a candidate’s employability, with larger effects in the UK, a highly flexible
labour market characterised by the relevance of general educational skills and relatively
high returns to tertiary education. Focusing on heterogeneity by education and job types,
the impact of digital skills is not univocal and highlights differing patterns across labour
markets in shaping job candidate opportunities.