 Competition, Trade and WagesChapter 3 in Trade, Investment, Migration and Labour Market Adjustment, 2002, pp 28-46 from Palgrave Macmillan Abstract: Abstract Perhaps the single most striking feature of rich-country labour markets in recent decades is what Nickell and Bell (1995) call ‘the collapse in demand for the unskilled across the OECD’. In ‘Anglo-Saxon’ countries, this shows up as an increase in the premium paid to skilled relative to unskilled workers; in Continental Europe, it manifests itself as an increase in long-term unemployment among the unskilled. There seems to be fairly wide agreement that these differences reflect the response of different labour market institutions to common shocks. But there is no consensus on the nature of those shocks. Much popular discussion and some academic observers (such as Wood (1994) and Leamer (1998)) have blamed ‘globalisation’ in general, and increased imports from low-wage newly industrialised countries (NICs) in particular. By contrast, a majority of academic commentators have pointed instead to skill-biased technological progress as the explanation. Keywords: Technological Progress; Skilled Labour; Stylise Fact; Factor Price; Unskilled Worker (search for similar items in EconPapers) There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:intecp:978-1-4039-2018-8_3 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in International Economic Association Series from Palgrave Macmillan |
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