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Wage inequality, technology and trade: 21st century evidence

John van Reenen

Labour Economics, 2011, vol. 18, issue 6, 730-741

Abstract: This paper describes and explains some of the principal trends in the wage and skill distribution in recent decades. Increases in wage inequality started in the US and UK at the end of the 1970s, but are now widespread. A good fraction of this inequality trend is due to technology-related increases in the demand for skilled workers outstripping the growth of their supply. Since the early 1990s, labor markets have become more polarized with jobs in the middle third of the wage distribution shrinking and those in the bottom and top third rising. I argue that this is because computerization complements the most skilled tasks, but substitutes for routine tasks performed by middle wage occupations such as clerks, leaving the demand for the lowest skilled service tasks largely unaffected. Finally, I argue that technology is partly endogenous, for example it has been spurred by trade with China. Thus, trade does matter for changes in the labor market, but through a different mechanism than conventionally thought.

Keywords: Wage inequality; Technology; Trade; Polarization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 J24 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (105)

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Working Paper: Wage Inequality,Technology and Trade: 21st Century Evidence (2011) Downloads
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:labeco:v:18:y:2011:i:6:p:730-741

DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2011.05.006

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