Abstract
This paper presents new evidence on the evolution of job polarisation in Spain between 1994 and 2014. After showing the U-shaped relationship between employment share growth and job’s percentile in the wage distribution, I use the task approach to investigate the main determinants behind job polarisation. Using the European Working Condition Survey I analyse in detail the task content of the jobs which display the most significant employment changes. I show that changes in employment shares are negatively related to the initial level of routine. I then explore the impact of computerisation on routine task inputs and I find that the routine measure is negatively related to computerisation. Finally, by using information on past jobs, I provide evidence on the displacement of middle-paid workers. Results suggest that they did not predominantly relocate their labour supply to bottom-paid occupations: while non-graduate middle workers move towards bottom occupations, graduate middle employees shift towards top occupations. This fact suggests that supply-side changes are important factors in explaining the expansion at the lower and upper tail of the employment distribution.
Highlights
Debate concerning the structural evolution of the division of labour and its impact on job quality has been a central theme in social sciences for the last 200 years
This paper presents new evidence on the evolution of job polarisation in Spain between 1994 and 2014
After showing the U-shaped relationship between employment share growth and job’s percentile in the wage distribution, I use the task approach to investigate the main determinants behind job polarisation
Summary
Debate concerning the structural evolution of the division of labour and its impact on job quality has been a central theme in social sciences for the last 200 years. Using the same period of analysis, Fernández-Macías (2012) shows an upgrading process (high-wage occupations expanding at the expenses of low-wage jobs) and does not provide evidence of a pervasive polarisation These five papers have relied on graphical inspection to identify the phenomenon: terciles (Goos et al 2009, 2014; Fernández-Macías 2012), or quintiles (Eurofound 2015; and Oesch and Rodríguez-Menés 2011). I analysed the role of job polarisation with the relocation of middle-skilled workers To investigate this phenomenon, the main data source is integrated with two additional datasets: the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) and the European Survey of Income and Living Conditions (SILC).
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