The growth of low skill service jobs and the polarization of the US labor market
We offer an integrated explanation and empirical analysis of the polarization of US employment and wages between 1980 and 2005, and the concurrent growth of low skill service occupations. We attribute polarization to the interaction between consumer preferences, which favor variety over specialization, and the falling cost of automating routine, codifiable job tasks. Applying a spatial equilibrium model, we derive, test, and confirm four implications of this hypothesis. Local labor markets that were specialized in routine activities differentially adopted information technology, reallocated lo... Show more
Authors: Autor, David H.; Dorn, David
Published: Bonn, Germany, IZA, 2012
Resource type: Report, paper or authored book
Physical description: various pagings
Access item: http://ftp.iza.org/dp7068.pdf
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