The Impact of Trade and Technology on the Labour Market
There is little doubt that trade and technology has a huge effect on the demands for different types of labour and the rewards to different skills. Our research has been at the forefront in identifying the important trends and analyzing the consequences. Our research highlights in this area are:
- In "The Effect of Trade on the Demand for Skill - Evidence from the Interstate Highway System" [Full document in Adobe PDF] CEP Discussion Paper 772, December 2006, Guy Michaels analyses the consequences of the construction of the US interstate system to argue that trade increases the relative demand for skilled labour.
Contact Guy Michaels, email g.michaels@lse.ac.uk, for more details.
- In "Lousy and Lovely Jobs: the Rising Polarization of Work in Britain" [Full document in Adobe PDF] CEP Discussion Paper 604, December 2003, Maarten Goos and Alan Manning show that the occupational structure of employment in the UK is polarizing - there are many more managerial and professional jobs and also more menial jobs. It is middling jobs that have been disappearing. They show that this is an important cause of the rise in UK wage inequality.
Contact Alan Manning, email a.manning@lse.ac.uk, for more details.
- In "Changes in Returns to Education in Latin America: the Role of Demand and Supply of Skills" [Full document in Adobe PDF] CEP Discussion Paper 712, December 2005, Marco Manacorda, Carolina Sanchez-Paramo, and Norbert Schady show that Latin American countries have experienced a strong increase in the demand for skill. However, the increase in the supply of educated workers has been so large that the returns to education have fallen in some countries.
Contact Marco Manacorda, email m.manacorda@lse.ac.uk, for more details.
Recent publications in this area:
- Maarten Goos and Alan Manning "Lousy and Lovely Jobs: The Rising Polarization of Work in Britain," The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 89:1, February 2007, pp. 118-133.
