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Data and Code for: Employment Inequality: Why Do the Low-Skilled Work Less Now?
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Erin Wolcott, Middlebury College
Version: View help for Version V1
Project Citation:
Project Description
Abstract: Low-skilled prime-age men are less likely to be employed than high-skilled prime-age men, and the differential has increased since the 1970s. I build a search model encompassing three explanations: (1) automation and trade reduced the demand for low-skilled workers; (2) health, welfare, and recreational gaming/computer technology reduced the supply of low-skilled workers; and (3) factors affecting job search, such as online job boards, reduced frictions for high-skilled workers. I find a shift in demand away from low-skilled workers was the leading cause, a shift in supply had little effect, and search frictions actually reduced employment inequality.
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