The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 87 No. 2 2005
New Goods and the Relative Demand for Skilled Labor
Abstract
This paper provides data on the output and factor payments of new goods for every four-digit industry in the U.S. manufacturing sector in the late 1970s and 1980s. For the entire manufacturing sector, the new goods' average skilled-labor intensity exceeds the old goods' by over 40%, and new goods can account for approximately 30% of the increase in the relative demand for skilled labor. Because new goods provide a direct measure of technology, this paper offers new evidence that technology has shifted demand in favor of skilled labor, consistent with the technology skill-complementarity hypothesis.
- DOI
- 10.1162/0034653053970393
- Volume
- 87
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 285-298
- Language
- en
- Sources
- openalex crossref