Skill Premium in Sweden, 1900–1950

Suvi Heikkuri ()
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Suvi Heikkuri: Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: Box 720, SE 40530 Göteborg, Sweden

No 40, Göteborg Papers in Economic History from University of Gothenburg, Unit for Economic History

Abstract: This paper documents the evolution of wage differentials between skilled and unskilled workers in Sweden throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Using newly digitized data on income taxes, this paper demonstrates that the skill premium decreased throughout 1900–1950, and most rapidly from 1930 onward. This is similar to the fall in skill premium documented by Goldin and Katz for the United States. However, unlike in the United States, the fall in skill premia in Sweden cannot be attributed to a supply shock of high school graduates. Rather, this paper shows that incomes of the low- and unskilled increased faster than those for more-skilled. Despite of similar technological change and rapid economic development, Sweden did not exhibit a comparable rise in high school education as the United States. The paper suggests other mechanisms for the falling skill premium in Sweden, such as informal schooling, emigration, and trade union activity.

Keywords: Skill premium; industrialization; Sweden; income inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J30 N34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46 pages
Date: 2024-04-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-lma, nep-ltv and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:gunhis:0040

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