The information sector in Denmark and Sweden: Value, employment, wages

Volha Pashkevich; Darek M Haftor; Natallia Pashkevich

doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120347

The information sector in Denmark and Sweden: Value, employment, wages

Technol Forecast Soc Change. 2021 Jan:162:120347. doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120347. Epub 2020 Oct 4.

Authors

Volha Pashkevich¹, Darek M Haftor^{2

3}, Natallia Pashkevich⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Systems Researches in Agro-Industrial Complex of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Belarus.
² Uppsala University, Sweden.
³ University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw, Poland.
⁴ Södertörn University, Sweden.

Abstract

Although Denmark and Sweden are deemed digital technology leaders, their information sectors have not yet been comprehensively measured. This study bridges this gap. Data for 1990-2012 are reclassified to fit the information sector conceptual framework from prior studies. The analyses examine sector economic value added, share of workers, share of the wage bill, and productivity ratios. These countries' information sectors are compared with those of the United States and South Korea. Novel results include the counterintuitive indication that Denmark's sector differs from Sweden's, with the latter's being closer to South Korea's. The information sector dominates both economies, although Sweden's seems more productive than Denmark's.

Keywords: Information economy; Information products; Information worker wage bill; Information workers; Primary information sector; Secondary information sector.