Interindustry Wage Differentials, Technology Adoption, and Job Polarization

48 Pages Posted: 2 Aug 2014 Last revised: 13 Mar 2017

See all articles by Myungkyu Shim

Myungkyu Shim

Yonsei University - School of Economics

Hee-Seung Yang

Yonsei University

Date Written: March 12, 2017

Abstract

Based on observations that high-wage industries in 1980 experienced more evident job polarization between 1980 and 2009, we hypothesize that the persistent structure of interindustry wage differentials leads to heterogeneity in job polarization across industries; as the relative price of ICT capital declines, firms respond to exogenous wage differentials by replacing routine workers with capital. Our empirical analysis shows that, during the last three decades, the annualized growth rate of ICT capital per worker increased by 0.34 percent and that of routine employment decreased by 0.41 percent in the U.S. industries that paid 10 percent higher wages in 1980.

Keywords: Job Polarization, Interindustry Wage Differentials, Endogenous Technology Adoption

JEL Classification: E24, J24, J31, O33, O41

Suggested Citation

Shim, Myungkyu and Yang, Hee-Seung, Interindustry Wage Differentials, Technology Adoption, and Job Polarization (March 12, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2474931 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2474931

Myungkyu Shim

Yonsei University - School of Economics ( email )

Seoul
Korea, Republic of (South Korea)

Hee-Seung Yang (Contact Author)

Yonsei University ( email )

50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu
Seoul, 03722
Korea, Republic of (South Korea)
82 2 2123 2480 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://sites.google.com/site/heeseungyang/

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