IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v100y2021ics0264999321000961.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Skill-biased technological change and labor market polarization in China

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Jun
  • Hu, Yong
  • Zhang, Zhiming

Abstract

This paper analyzes the formation mechanism of polarization in China’s labor market from the perspective of skill-biased technological change (SBTC). Using the World Input–Output Database for 1995–2009 and China’s industry database for 2010–2016, this paper measures the SBTC of 33 industries in China and conducts empirical tests. Results show that SBTC significantly promotes growth in employment and wages among both high-skilled and low-skilled workers but has no significant impact on the employment and wages of medium-skilled workers. A further analysis by using quantile regression shows that SBTC inhibits employment and wage growth among medium-skilled workers to some extent. These results indicate that SBTC is a crucial source of employment and wage polarization and contributes to labor market polarization in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Jun & Hu, Yong & Zhang, Zhiming, 2021. "Skill-biased technological change and labor market polarization in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:100:y:2021:i:c:s0264999321000961
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2021.105507
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999321000961
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2021.105507?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nicholas Bloom & Mirko Draca & John Van Reenen, 2016. "Trade Induced Technical Change? The Impact of Chinese Imports on Innovation, IT and Productivity," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 83(1), pages 87-117.
    2. Baltagi, Badi H. & Rich, Daniel P., 2005. "Skill-biased technical change in US manufacturing: a general index approach," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 549-570, June.
    3. David H. Autor & David Dorn & Gordon H. Hanson, 2013. "The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2121-2168, October.
    4. Lindsay Oldenski, 2014. "Offshoring and the Polarization of the U.S. Labor Market," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(3_suppl), pages 734-761, May.
    5. Eli Berman & Rohini Somanathan & Hong W. Tan, 2010. "Is Skill-Biased Technological Change Here Yet? Evidence from Indian Manufacturing in the 1990s," NBER Chapters, in: Contributions in Memory of Zvi Griliches, pages 299-321, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. David H. Autor & Frank Levy & Richard J. Murnane, 2003. "The skill content of recent technological change: an empirical exploration," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Nov.
    7. Attanasio, Orazio & Goldberg, Pinelopi K. & Pavcnik, Nina, 2004. "Trade reforms and wage inequality in Colombia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 331-366, August.
    8. Maarten Goos & Alan Manning, 2007. "Lousy and Lovely Jobs: The Rising Polarization of Work in Britain," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(1), pages 118-133, February.
    9. Andrea Salvatori, 2018. "The anatomy of job polarisation in the UK," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 52(1), pages 1-15, December.
    10. Francesca Mazzolari & Giuseppe Ragusa, 2013. "Spillovers from High-Skill Consumption to Low-Skill Labor Markets," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(1), pages 74-86, March.
    11. Sushanta K. MALLICK & Ricardo M. SOUSA, 2017. "The skill premium effect of technological change: New evidence from United States manufacturing," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 156(1), pages 113-131, March.
    12. David H. Autor & Lawrence F. Katz & Melissa S. Kearney, 2006. "The Polarization of the U.S. Labor Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 189-194, May.
    13. Marouani, Mohamed A. & Nilsson, Björn, 2016. "The labor market effects of skill-biased technological change in Malaysia," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 55-75.
    14. Antonio Accetturo & Alberto Dalmazzo & Guido Blasio, 2014. "Skill Polarization In Local Labor Markets Under Share-Altering Technical Change," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 249-272, March.
    15. Mandelman, Federico S., 2016. "Labor market polarization and international macroeconomic dynamics," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1-16.
    16. Guido Matias Cortes, 2016. "Where Have the Middle-Wage Workers Gone? A Study of Polarization Using Panel Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(1), pages 63-105.
    17. Firpo, Sergio & Fortin, Nicole M. & Lemieux, Thomas, 2011. "Occupational Tasks and Changes in the Wage Structure," IZA Discussion Papers 5542, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2014. "Explaining Job Polarization: Routine-Biased Technological Change and Offshoring," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(8), pages 2509-2526, August.
    19. repec:cii:cepiei:2012-q3-131-1 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Lindsay Oldenski, 2012. "The Task Composition of Offshoring by U.S. Multinationals," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 131, pages 5-21.
    21. Beyer, Harald & Rojas, Patricio & Vergara, Rodrigo, 1999. "Trade liberalization and wage inequality," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 103-123, June.
    22. Subhadip Ghosh, 2008. "FDI and the skill premium in a North-South global economy," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 181-195.
    23. Rainer Klump & Peter McAdam & Alpo Willman, 2007. "Factor Substitution and Factor-Augmenting Technical Progress in the United States: A Normalized Supply-Side System Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(1), pages 183-192, February.
    24. Jun Wang, 2017. "Did International Outsourcing Cause the Increase in China's Skill Premium?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 25(1), pages 109-126, January.
    25. Montresor, Giulia, 2019. "Job polarization and labour supply changes in the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 187-203.
    26. repec:adr:anecst:y:2005:i:79-80:p:12 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Daron Acemoglu, 2002. "Directed Technical Change," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 69(4), pages 781-809.
    28. Marquetti, Adalmir A., 2003. "Analyzing historical and regional patterns of technical change from a classical-Marxian perspective," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 191-200, October.
    29. Cassou, Steven P. & Gorostiaga, Arantza & Uribe-Zubiaga, Iker, 2013. "Policy effects of the elasticity of substitution across labor types in life cycle models," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 59-70.
    30. Daron Acemoglu, 2003. "Patterns of Skill Premia," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(2), pages 199-230.
    31. B. K. Atrostic & Sang V. Nguyen, 2005. "It and Productivity in U.S. Manufacturing: Do Computer Networks Matter?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 43(3), pages 493-506, July.
    32. Beladi, Hamid & Marjit, Sugata & Broll, Udo, 2011. "Capital mobility, skill formation and polarization," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 1902-1906, July.
    33. Pavcnik, Nina, 2003. "What explains skill upgrading in less developed countries?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 311-328, August.
    34. Andrea Salvatori, 2018. "The anatomy of job polarisation in the UK," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 52(1), pages 1-15, December.
    35. Hu, Yong & Fisher-Vanden, Karen & Su, Baozhong, 2020. "Technological spillover through industrial and regional linkages: Firm-level evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 523-545.
    36. Adrian Adermon & Magnus Gustavsson, 2015. "Job Polarization and Task-Biased Technological Change: Evidence from Sweden, 1975–2005," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 117(3), pages 878-917, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shen, Zhiyang & Wu, Haitao & Bai, Kaixuan & Hao, Yu, 2022. "Integrating economic, environmental and societal performance within the productivity measurement," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    2. Taowu Pei & Lei Gao & Chao Yang & Chang Xu & Yu Tian & Weiming Song, 2021. "The Impact of FDI on Urban PM 2.5 Pollution in China: The Mediating Effect of Industrial Structure Transformation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-24, August.
    3. Huajie Jiang & Qiguo Gong, 2022. "Does Skill Polarization Affect Wage Polarization? U.S. Evidence 2009–2021," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-17, October.
    4. Usabiaga, Carlos & Núñez, Fernando & Arendt, Lukasz & Gałecka-Burdziak, Ewa & Pater, Robert, 2022. "Skill requirements and labour polarisation: An association analysis based on Polish online job offers," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    5. Agus Salim & Jun Wen & Anas Usman Bello & Firsty Ramadhona Amalia Lubis & Rifki Khoirudin & Uswatun Khasanah & Lestari Sukarniati & Muhammad Safar Nasir, 2024. "Does information and communication technology improve labor productivity? Recent evidence from the Southeast Asian emerging economies," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), March.
    6. Shutong Zhang & Jun Nagayasu, 2023. "Regional Policies’ Impacts on Urban Migration:Evidence from Special Economic Zones in China," TUPD Discussion Papers 45, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Tohoku University.
    7. Qi Jiang & Yihan Li & Hongyun Si, 2022. "Digital Economy Development and the Urban–Rural Income Gap: Intensifying or Reducing," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-23, November.
    8. Santos, Anabela Marques & Barbero, Javier & Salotti, Simone & Conte, Andrea, 2023. "Job creation and destruction in the digital age: Assessing heterogeneous effects across European Union countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    9. Hutter, Christian & Weber, Enzo, 2021. "Labour market miracle, productivity debacle: Measuring the effects of skill-biased and skill-neutral technical change," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wenchao Jin, 2022. "Occupational polarisation and endogenous task-biased technical change," Working Paper Series 0622, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    2. Cortes, Guido Matias & Salvatori, Andrea, 2019. "Delving into the demand side: Changes in workplace specialization and job polarization," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 164-176.
    3. Andrea Salvatori, 2018. "The anatomy of job polarisation in the UK," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 52(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Cavenaile, Laurent, 2021. "Offshoring, computerization, labor market polarization and top income inequality," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    5. Lucas van der Velde, 2020. "Within Occupation Wage Dispersion and the Task Content of Jobs," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(5), pages 1161-1197, October.
    6. Nikolaos Terzidis & Raquel Ortega‐Argilés, 2021. "Employment polarization in regional labor markets: Evidence from the Netherlands," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(5), pages 971-1001, November.
    7. Raquel Sebastian, 2018. "Explaining job polarisation in Spain from a task perspective," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 215-248, June.
    8. Da Silva, António Dias & Laws, Athene & Petroulakis, Filippos, 2019. "Hours of work polarisation?," Working Paper Series 2324, European Central Bank.
    9. Guy Michaels & Ashwini Natraj & John Van Reenen, 2010. "Has ICT Polarized Skill Demand? Evidence from Eleven Countries over 25 Years," CEP Discussion Papers dp0987, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    10. Peng, Fei & Anwar, Sajid & Kang, Lili, 2017. "New technology and old institutions: An empirical analysis of the skill-biased demand for older workers in Europe," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-19.
    11. Huajie Jiang & Qiguo Gong, 2022. "Does Skill Polarization Affect Wage Polarization? U.S. Evidence 2009–2021," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-17, October.
    12. Du Yuhong & Wei Xiahai, 2020. "Task content routinisation, technological change and labour turnover: Evidence from China," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 31(3), pages 324-346, September.
    13. Seetha Menon & Andrea Salvatori & Wouter Zwysen, 2020. "The Effect of Computer Use on Work Discretion and Work Intensity: Evidence from Europe," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(4), pages 1004-1038, December.
    14. Matthias Haslberger, 2021. "Routine-Biased Technological Change Does Not Always Lead to Polarisation: Evidence from 10 OECD Countries, 1995-2013," LIS Working papers 814, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    15. T. Gries & R. Grundmann & I. Palnau & M. Redlin, 2017. "Innovations, growth and participation in advanced economies - a review of major concepts and findings," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 293-351, April.
    16. Böhm, Michael Johannes & Gaudecker, Hans-Martin von & Schran, Felix, 2019. "Occupation Growth, Skill Prices, and Wage Inequality," IZA Discussion Papers 12647, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Hensvik, Lena & Skans, Oskar Nordström, 2023. "The skill-specific impact of past and projected occupational decline," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    18. Harrigan, James & Reshef, Ariell & Toubal, Farid, 2021. "The March of the Techies: Job Polarization Within and Between Firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    19. Antonio Martins-Neto & Nanditha Mathew & Pierre Mohnen & Tania Treibich, 2021. "Is There Job Polarization in Developing Economies? A Review and Outlook," CESifo Working Paper Series 9444, CESifo.
    20. Lewandowski, Piotr & Keister, Roma & Hardy, Wojciech & Górka, Szymon, 2020. "Ageing of routine jobs in Europe," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(4).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Employment polarization; Labor market; Skill-biased technological change; Wage polarization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:100:y:2021:i:c:s0264999321000961. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.