Automation and occupational wage trends

"Routine-biased technological change has emerged as a leading explanation for the differential wage growth of routine occupations, such as manufacturers or office clerks, relative to less routine occupations. Less clear, however, is how the effects of technological advancement on occupational w...

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Main Author: Parolin, Zachary
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: Paris 2019
OECD
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19135355124919535379-automation-and-occupational-wa.htm
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author Parolin, Zachary
author_facet Parolin, Zachary
collection Library items
description "Routine-biased technological change has emerged as a leading explanation for the differential wage growth of routine occupations, such as manufacturers or office clerks, relative to less routine occupations. Less clear, however, is how the effects of technological advancement on occupational wage trends vary across political-institutional context. This paper investigates the extent to which collective bargaining agreements and union coverage shape the relative wage growth of automatable occupations. Using data from the Luxembourg Income Study and the United States Current Population Survey, I measure the ‘routine task intensity’ of occupations across 15 OECD Member States and the 50 United States from the 1980s onward. Findings suggest that bargaining coverage is more consequential for the wage growth of high routine occupations relative to less routine occupations, and that high routine occupations lose coverage at a faster rate when bargaining coverage at the national level declines. As a result, declines in bargaining coverage within a country are associated with declining relative wage growth for automatable occupations. Estimates suggest that had union coverage in the United States not declined from 1984 levels, the earnings of high routine occupations might have grown at the same rate as low pay occupations between 1984 and 2015, rather than experiencing a relative wage decline. However, the findings also suggest that gains in the relative wage growth may increasingly come at the cost of reduced employment shares of automatable occupations."
format TEXT
geographic OECD countries
id 19135355124919535379_b04d29f9f7fa43b2bcb80514f704b8ea
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 19135355124919535379_b04d29f9f7fa43b2bcb80514f704b8ea
is_hierarchy_title Automation and occupational wage trends
language English
physical 48 p.
Digital
publishDate 2019
publisher Paris
OECD
spellingShingle Parolin, Zachary
automation
repetitive work
technological change
wages
collective bargaining
trade union attitude
Automation and occupational wage trends
thumbnail https://www.labourline.org/Image_prev.jpg?Archive=139040295722
title Automation and occupational wage trends
topic automation
repetitive work
technological change
wages
collective bargaining
trade union attitude
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19135355124919535379-automation-and-occupational-wa.htm