Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/197651 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2017:14
Publisher: 
Uppsala University, Department of Economics, Uppsala
Abstract: 
In this paper, I first show that Swedish job polarization is - contrary to common belief - a long-run phenomenon: the share of middle-wage jobs has declined relative to the highest- and lowest-paid jobs since at least the 1950s. Based on previous results for the US, I then demonstrate that the same major employment shifts across routine and nonroutine jobs drive long-run job polarization in both Sweden and the US. In particular, the shrinking manufacturing sector, with the subsequent decline of routine manual (blue-collar) jobs, stands out as the main explanation for why job polarization is a long-run phenomenon. However, consistent with the hypothesis of routine-biased technological change, both countries display across-the-board declines of routine jobs from around the 1980s, as well as polarizing employment patterns not only between but also within industries. But despite these trend breaks, Sweden actually experienced a stronger job-polarization process - a more pronounced hollowing out of the job-wage distribution - in the pre- than in the post 1980-era.
Subjects: 
Automation
Industrial Composition
Routine-Biased Technological Change
Routinization
Structural Change
JEL: 
J21
J23
N10
N30
O33
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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