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Industrial and Occupational Employment Changes During the Great Recession

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  • Sangmin Aum
  • Sang Yoon (Tim) Lee
  • Yongseok Shin

Abstract

The U.S. labor market contracted sharply during the Great Recession. The ensuing recovery has been sluggish and by some measures still incomplete. In this paper, we break down aggregate employment during the Recession and the recovery into changes across industries and occupations. There is a clear asymmetric pattern: The contraction is driven by sectors and the recovery by occupations. In particular, the contraction between 2008 and 2010 primarily reflects a steep decline in construction employment, partially mitigated by expansions in the food services, education, and health industries. The recovery first came from a gradual increase in low-skill occupation employment across all sectors but after 2012 from a pronounced increase in high-skill occupation employment across all sectors. This pattern of recovery is a continuation of the underlying trend of polarization across occupations, which commenced in the 1980s.

Suggested Citation

  • Sangmin Aum & Sang Yoon (Tim) Lee & Yongseok Shin, 2017. "Industrial and Occupational Employment Changes During the Great Recession," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 99(4), pages 307-317.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlrv:00087
    DOI: 10.20955/r.2017.307-317
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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.
    2. Christopher L. Foote & Richard W. Ryan, 2015. "Labor-Market Polarization over the Business Cycle," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(1), pages 371-413.
    3. Shim, Myungkyu & Yang, Hee-Seung, 2016. "New stylized facts on occupational employment and their implications: Evidence from consistent employment data," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 402-415.
    4. Lee, Sang Yoon (Tim) & Shin, Yongseok, 2017. "Horizontal and Vertical Polarization: Task-Specific Technological Change in a Multi-Sector Economy," CEPR Discussion Papers 12524, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jane E. Ihrig & Edward Kim & Cindy M. Vojtech & Gretchen C. Weinbach, 2019. "How Have Banks Been Managing the Composition of High-Quality Liquid Assets?," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 101(3).
    2. Aum, Sangmin & Lee, Sang Yoon (Tim) & Shin, Yongseok, 2018. "Computerizing industries and routinizing jobs: Explaining trends in aggregate productivity," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 1-21.
    3. Dain Lee & Jinhyeok Park & Yongseok Shin, 2024. "Where Are the Workers? From Great Resignation to Quiet Quitting," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 106(1), pages 59-71, January.
    4. Julieta Caunedo & Elisa Keller & Yongseok Shin, 2023. "Technology and the Task Content of Jobs across the Development Spectrum," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 37(3), pages 479-493.
    5. Yongseok Shin & C. Y. Kelvin Yuen, 2019. "Occupational Mobility and Lifetime Earnings," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 101(3).
    6. Rodolfo E. Manuelli, 2019. "What Determines Debt Maturity?," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 101(3), pages 155-176.
    7. Simon Firestone & Amy Lorenc & Ben Ranish, 2019. "An Empirical Economic Assessment of the Costs and Benefits of Bank Capital in the United States," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 101(3).

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