Routine-biased technological change and wages by education level: Occupational downgrading and displacement effects

Elliot Moiteaux, Clement Bosquet and Paul Maarek

No 2021-05, THEMA Working Papers from THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise

Abstract: Taking advantage of geographic (and time) variation in the proportion of routine occupations in the US, we study the impact of this variation on the wage rate of workers by educational group. Using individual data and a Bartik-type IV strategy, we show that not only non-college-educated workers but also, in the same proportion, workers with fewer than four years of college are negatively impacted by this routine- biased technological change. The latter skill group currently represents 30% of the US population. We show that only 10% to 20% of the impact on both educational groups is related to occupational and industrial downgrading (the composition eect) and that most of the wage impact occurs within industries and occupations, including manual service occupations. This is consistent with the displacement effect described in the theoretical literature on task-biased technological change and automation.

Keywords: job polarization; routine occupations; wages; education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I24 J23 J24 J31 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-lma and nep-tid
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Related works:
Working Paper: Routine-biased technological change and wages by education level: Occupational downgrading and displacement effects (2021)
Working Paper: Routine-biased technological change and wages by education level: Occupational downgrading and displacement effects (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ema:worpap:2021-05

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