Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/210445 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 888
Publisher: 
Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance, London
Abstract: 
We construct a multi-layer model of skills, occupations, and sectors. Technological progress among middle-skill occupations raises the employment shares and relative wages of lower- and higher-skill occupations (horizontal polarization), and those of managers over workers (vertical polarization). Polarization is faster within sectors that rely more on middle-skill workers, endogenously boosting their TFP. This shrinks their employment and output shares (structural change) if sector outputs are complementary. We empirically validate our theoretical predictions, and show that task-specific technological progress - which was faster for routine-manual tasks and slower for interpersonal tasks - played a major role in transforming the U.S. economy since 1980.
Subjects: 
job polarization
structural change
wage inequality
JEL: 
J24
J31
L16
O14
O33
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.