Technical Change and the Relative Demand for Skilled Labor: The United States in Historical Perspective

Lawrence Katz and Robert Margo

No 18752, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper examines shifts over time in the relative demand for skilled labor in the United States. Although de-skilling in the conventional sense did occur overall in nineteenth century manufacturing, a more nuanced picture is that occupations "hollowed out": the share of "middle-skill" jobs - artisans - declined while those of "high-skill" - white collar, non-production workers - and "low-skill" - operatives and laborers increased. De-skilling did not occur in the aggregate economy; rather, the aggregate shares of low skill jobs decreased, middle skill jobs remained steady, and high skill jobs expanded from 1850 to the early twentieth century. The pattern of monotonic skill upgrading continued through much of the twentieth century until the recent "polarization" of labor demand since the late 1980s. New archival evidence on wages suggests that the demand for high skill (white collar) workers grew more rapidly than the supply starting well before the Civil War.

JEL-codes: J23 N11 N12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-lab, nep-lma and nep-ltv
Note: DAE LS
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (41)

Published as Technical Change and the Relative Demand for Skilled Labor: The United States in Historical Perspective , Lawrence F. Katz, Robert A. Margo. in Human Capital in History: The American Record , Boustan, Frydman, and Margo. 2014

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