The growth of service employment: a reappraisal

Abstract

So far, the explanations and interpretations of the growth of the service sector and deindustrialization seem to be controversial and partially unsatisfactory. Unlike previous studies, the present work deals with the two issues together. According to the author’s hypothesis, the growth in service sector employment is due to and increasing degree of integration of services in the productive system and in industry. A particular methodology is proposed to test this hypothesis. It is then applied to the case of service sector expansion in Italy.