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Female labour force participation in an era of organizational and technological change

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  • Marina Adshade

Abstract

The supply of skilled female labour increased significantly at the beginning of the twentieth century as women assumed positions in the newly created clerical workforce. Evidence suggests that despite this increase in labour supply, the wage paid to female clerical workers increased over the period and that the ratio of female clerical wages to male manufacturing wages was roughly constant. These labour market facts can be accounted for in a dynamic general equilibrium model in which an exogenous increase in human capital induces an increase in demand for skilled clerical workers. While induced technological change that favours skilled workers may account for the observed increase in female real wages, explaining the stagnate relative weekly wages paid to female clerical workers requires a framework that includes organizational change.

Suggested Citation

  • Marina Adshade, 2012. "Female labour force participation in an era of organizational and technological change," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 45(3), pages 1188-1219, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:cje:issued:v:45:y:2012:i:3:p:1188-1219
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5982.2012.01731.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Daron Acemoglu, 1998. "Why Do New Technologies Complement Skills? Directed Technical Change and Wage Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1055-1089.
    2. Ian Keay & Marina E. Adshade, 2006. "Enabling The Visible Hand," Working Paper 1103, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    3. Daron Acemoglu, 2002. "Technical Change, Inequality, and the Labor Market," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(1), pages 7-72, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marina Adshade & Ian Keay, 2010. "Technological and Organizational Change and the Employment of Women: Early Twentieth-Century Evidence from the Ohio Manufacturing Sector," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 129-157.
    2. Ian Keay & Marina E. Adshade, 2006. "Enabling The Visible Hand," Working Paper 1103, Economics Department, Queen's University.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E23 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Production
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • N32 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-

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