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Relative Demand for Skills in Swedish Manufacturing: Technology or Trade?

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Author Info
Hansson, Pär (Trade Union Institute for Economic Research)
Abstract

The rate of change in the share of skilled labor has increased steadily over the past 35 years in Swedish manufacturing. A closer inspection of the period after 1970 indicates that while relative supply changes of skilled labor seem to have been the main driving force behind the growing skill shares in manufacturing industries over the period 1970-85, an acceleration in the relative demand for skills appears to have propelled higher skill shares during the late 1980s and in the beginning of the 1990s. Consistent with such a development is the finding of an increasing degree of complementarity between knowledge capital and skilled labor and that Swedish manufacturing firms, in recent years, have invested heavily in R&D. There is also some support for the belief that intensified competition from the South has increased the relative demand for skilled labor. However, the impact appears to be small and concentrated to the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Trade Union Institute for Economic Research in its series Working Paper Series with number 152.

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Length: 36 pages
Date of creation: 29 Apr 1999
Date of revision:
Publication status: Published in Review of International Economics, 2000, pages 533-555.
Handle: RePEc:hhs:fiefwp:0152

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Related research
Keywords: Skill upgrading; Knowledge capital; Import competition; Outsourcing;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Country and Industry Studies of Trade
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
O33 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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References listed on IDEAS
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. Feenstra, R.C. & Hanson, G.H., 1995. "Foreign Investment, Outsourcing and Relative Wages," Department of Economics 95-14, California Davis - Department of Economics.
    Other versions:
  2. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Mairesse, Jacques, 1995. "Exploring the relationship between R&D and productivity in French manufacturing firms," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 263-293, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Blomström, Magnus & Fors, Gunnar & Lipsey, Robert E., 1997. "Foreign Direct Investment and Employment: Home Country Experience in the United States and Sweden," Working Paper Series 490, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    Other versions:
  4. Per-Anders Edin & Bertil Holmlund, 1995. "The Swedish Wage Structure: The Rise and Fall of Solidarity Wage Policy?," NBER Chapters, in: Differences and Changes in Wage Structures, pages 307-344 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. repec:att:wimass:199620r is not listed on IDEAS
  6. David H. Autor & Lawrence F. Katz & Alan B. Krueger, 1998. "Computing Inequality: Have Computers Changed The Labor Market?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(4), pages 1169-1213, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Horn, Henrik & Lang, Harald & Lundgren, Stefan, 1995. "Managerial effort incentives, X-inefficiency and international trade," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 117-138, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Wolfgang Keller, 1997. "Trade and Transmission of Technology," NBER Working Papers 6113, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. 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)
    Other versions:
  10. Machin, Steve, 1994. "Changes in the Relative Demand for Skills in the UK Labour Market," CEPR Discussion Papers 952, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. 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)
  12. Desjonqueres, Thibaut & Machin, Stephen & Van Reenen, John, 1999. " Another Nail in the Coffin? Or Can the Trade Based Explanation of Changing Skill Structures Be Resurrected?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 101(4), pages 533-54, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Wolfgang Keller, 1997. "Trade and the Transmission of Technology," Development and Comp Systems 9707001, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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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. Oscarsson, Eva, 2000. "Trade, Employment and Wages in Sweden 1975-93," Research Papers in Economics 2000:8, Stockholm University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Erik Mellander, 2000. "The Multi-Dimensional Nature of Labor Demand and Skill-Biased Technical Change," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 0671, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
  3. Mellander, Erik, 1999. "The multi-dimensional nature of labor demand and skill-biased technical change," Working Paper Series 1999:9, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
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