The supply of skilled labor and skill-based technological progress

Michael Kiley

No 1997-45, Finance and Economics Discussion Series from Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.)

Abstract: Rising inequality in the relative wages of skilled and unskilled labor is often attributed to skill-biased technological progress. This paper presents a model in which the adoption of skill-biased or \"unskilled-biased\" technologies is endogenous. Conventional wisdom states that an increase in the supply of skilled labor lowers the relative wage of skilled to unskilled labor. In this paper, an increase in the supply of skilled labor leads to temporary stagnation in the wages of unskilled workers and an expanding gap between the wages of skilled and unskilled workers through an acceleration of skill-biased technological change.

Keywords: Labor; supply (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1997
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Supply of Skilled Labour and Skill-Biased Technological Progress (1999)
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