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Lousy and Lovely Jobs: The Rising Polarization of Work in Britain

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Author Info
Maarten Goos (Department of Economics, Catholic University Leuven and Erasmus University)
Alan Manning (Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics)

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Abstract

This paper shows that the United Kingdom since 1975 has exhibited a pattern of job polarization with rises in employment shares in the highest- and lowest-wage occupations. This is not entirely consistent with the idea of skill-biased technical change as a hypothesis about the impact of technology on the labor market. We argue that the "routinization" hypothesis recently proposed by Autor, Levy, and Murnane (2003) is a better explanation of job polarization, though other factors may also be important. We show that job polarization can explain one-third of the rise in the log(50/10) wage differential and one-half of the rise in the log(90/50). Copyright by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Article provided by MIT Press in its journal The Review of Economics and Statistics.

Volume (Year): 89 (2007)
Issue (Month): 1 (01)
Pages: 118-133
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Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:89:y:2007:i:1:p:118-133

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Levy, Frank & Murnane, Richard J, 1992. "U.S. Earnings Levels and Earnings Inequality: A Review of Recent Trends and Proposed Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 1333-81, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. repec:fth:prinin:385 is not listed on IDEAS
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  5. Henry S. Farber, 1997. "Job Creation in the United States: Good Jobs or Bad?," Working Papers 764, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.. [Downloadable!]
  6. Teulings, Coen N, 2000. "Aggregation Bias in Elasticities of Substitution and the Minimum Wage Paradox," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 41(2), pages 359-98, May.
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  7. Francis Green & Steven McIntosh, 2007. "Is there a genuine under-utilization of skills amongst the over-qualified?," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 39(4), pages 427-439. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Chinhui Juhn, 1994. "Wage Inequality and Industrial Change: Evidence from Five Decades," NBER Working Papers 4684, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Stephen Machin & John Van Reenen, 1998. "Technology And Changes In Skill Structure: Evidence From Seven Oecd Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(4), pages 1215-1244, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Timothy Dunne & John Haltiwanger & Lucia Foster, 2000. "Wage and Productivity Dispersion in U.S. Manufacturing: The Role of Computer Investment," NBER Working Papers 7465, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. David Autor & Frank Levy & Richard Murnane, 2003. "The skill content of recent technological change: an empirical exploration," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Nov. [Downloadable!]
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  14. Berman, Eli & Bound, John & Griliches, Zvi, 1994. "Changes in the Demand for Skilled Labor within U.S. Manufacturing: Evidence from the Annual Survey of Manufactures," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 109(2), pages 367-97, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Chinhui Juhn, 1999. "Wage inequality and demand for skill: Evidence from five decades," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 52(3), pages 424-443, April.
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  20. Thomas Lemieux, 2002. "Decomposing changes in wage distributions: a unified approach," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 35(4), pages 646-688, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. David Card & John E. DiNardo, 2002. "Skill-Biased Technological Change and Rising Wage Inequality: Some Problems and Puzzles," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(4), pages 733-783, October. [Downloadable!]
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  22. Sicherman, Nachum, 1991. ""Overeducation" in the Labor Market," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(2), pages 101-22, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  23. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-42, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  24. Hellerstein, Judith K & Neumark, David & Troske, Kenneth R, 1999. "Wages, Productivity, and Worker Characteristics: Evidence from Plant-Level Production Functions and Wage Equations," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(3), pages 409-46, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  25. Spitz, Alexandra, 2003. "IT Capital, Job Content and Educational Attainment," ZEW Discussion Papers 03-04, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Black, Sandra E. & Spitz-Oener, Alexandra, 2007. "Explaining Women?s Success: Technological Change and the Skill Content of Women?s Work," ZEW Discussion Papers 07-033, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. de Meza, David & Lockwood, Ben, 2004. "Too Much Investment : A Problem Of Coordination Failure," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 703, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  3. Seamus McGuinness & Frances McGinnity & Philip J. O'Connell, 2008. "Changing Returns to Education During a Boom? The Case of Ireland," Papers WP227, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Arnaud Chéron & Francois Langot & Eva Moreno-Galbis, 2007. "The "Dynamic" of Job Competition during the ICT Revolution," IZA Discussion Papers 2671, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  5. KAWAGUCHI Daiji & MORI Yuko, 2008. "Stable Wage Distribution in Japan, 1982-2002: A Counter Example for SBTC?," Discussion papers 08020, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI). [Downloadable!]
  6. Alexandra Spitz-Oener, 2007. "The Returns to Pencil Use Revisited," IZA Discussion Papers 2729, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  7. Francis Green & Yu Zhu, 2008. "Overqualification, Job Dissatisfaction, and Increasing Dispersion in the Returns to Graduate Education," Studies in Economics 0803, Department of Economics, University of Kent. [Downloadable!]
  8. Spitz, Alexandra, 2004. "Are Skill Requirements in the Workplace Rising? : Stylized Facts and Evidence on Skill-Biased Technological Change," ZEW Discussion Papers 04-33, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  9. David B. Audretsch & Mark Sanders, 2008. "Globalization and the Rise of the Entrepreneurial Economy," Working Papers 08-21, Utrecht School of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  10. Alan Manning, 2004. "We Can Work It Out: the Impact of Technological Change on the Demand for Low Skill Workers," CEP Discussion Papers dp0640, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  11. David H. Autor & Lawrence F. Katz & Melissa S. Kearney, 2005. "Rising Wage Inequality: The Role of Composition and Prices," NBER Working Papers 11628, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Maarten Goos & Jozef Konings, 2007. "The Impact of Payroll Tax Reductions on Employment and Wages: A Natural Experiment Using Firm Level Data," LICOS Discussion Papers 17807, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, K.U.Leuven. [Downloadable!]
  13. David H. Autor & Lawrence F. Katz & Melissa S. Kearney, 2006. "The Polarization of the U.S. Labor Market," NBER Working Papers 11986, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Dupuy, Arnaud, 2008. "The Assignment of Workers to Tasks, Wage Distribution and Technical Change: A Critical Review," IZA Discussion Papers 3379, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  15. Massimiliano Bratti & Robin Naylor & Jeremy Smith, 2005. "Variations in the Wage Returns to a First Degree: Evidence from the British Cohort Study 1970," IZA Discussion Papers 1631, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  16. Fernando Galindo-Rueda & Jonathan Haskel, 2005. "Skills, Workforce Characteristics and Firm-Level Productivity: Evidence from the Matched ABI/Employer Skills Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 1542, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  17. Erling Barth & Karl O. Moene, 2009. "The Equality Multiplier," NBER Working Papers 15076, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Christian Dustmann & Johannes Ludsteck & Uta Schönberg, 2007. "Revisiting the German Wage Structure," IZA Discussion Papers 2685, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  19. David H. Autor & Lawrence F. Katz & Melissa S. Kearney, 2005. "Trends in U.S. Wage Inequality: Re-Assessing the Revisionists," NBER Working Papers 11627, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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