Digital Labor Market Inequality and the Decline of IT Exceptionalism
70 Pages Posted: 27 Aug 2020 Last revised: 11 Jun 2021
Date Written: January 21, 2021
Abstract
Several decades of expansion in digital communications, web commerce, and online distribution have altered regional IT labor market returns in the United States. IT occupations experienced similar wage growth as STEM occupations involving IT-related work activities, and wage inequality rose across locations and within MSAs. Supply side characteristics especially agglomeration and skilled labor pooling contributed to regional variation in IT wages since 2005. The size distribution of establishments in IT-using services industries increasingly drove IT wage inequality after 2012. While market concentration contributed to wage premiums across locations, establishment count contributed to within-MSA wage spread.
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