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Are routine jobs moving south?: Evidence from changes in the occupational structure of employment in the USA and Mexico

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  • Guido Matias Cortes
  • Diego M. Morris

Abstract

The decline of employment in middle-wage, routine task intensive jobs has been well documented for the USA. Increased offshoring towards lower-income countries such as Mexico has been proposed as a potential driver of this decline. Our analysis provides a unique and new approach to address the question of whether trade and offshoring have impacted the occupational structure of employment in the USA by comparing the evolution of employment across 175 detailed occupational categories in both countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Guido Matias Cortes & Diego M. Morris, 2020. "Are routine jobs moving south?: Evidence from changes in the occupational structure of employment in the USA and Mexico," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-11, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2020-11
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    Cited by:

    1. Guido Matias Cortes & Diego M. Morris, 2019. "Are Routine Jobs Moving South? Evidence from Changes in the Occupational Structure of Employment in the U.S. and Mexico," Working Paper series 19-15, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    2. Guido Matias Cortes1 & Diego M. Morris, 2020. "Are routine jobs moving south? Evidence from changes in the occupational structure of employment in the USA and Mexico," WIDER Working Paper Series wp2020-11, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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    Keywords

    Employment; Employment structure; Routine employment; Trade; Offshoring; Mexico;
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