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The End of Men and Rise of Women in the High-Skilled Labor Market

Author

Listed:
  • Nir Jaimovich

    (Duke University)

  • Henry Siu

    (University of British Columbia)

  • Guido Matias Cortes

    (University of Manchester)

Abstract

We document a new finding regarding the deterioration of labor market outcomes for men in the US: Since 1980, the probability that a college-educated man was employed in a cognitive/high-wage occupation fell. This contrasts starkly with the experience of college-educated women: their probability of working in these occupations rose, despite a much larger increase in the supply of educated women relative to men during this period. We study a general neoclassical model of the labor market that allows us to shed light on the forces capable of rationalizing these observations. The model indicates that one key channel is a greater increase in the demand for female-oriented skills in cognitive/high-wage occupations relative to other occupations. Using occupational-level data from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, we find evidence that this relative increase in the demand for female skills is due to an increasing importance of social skills within such occupations. We find a strong and robust relationship between the change in the female share of employment and the importance of social skills in an occupation over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Nir Jaimovich & Henry Siu & Guido Matias Cortes, 2017. "The End of Men and Rise of Women in the High-Skilled Labor Market," 2017 Meeting Papers 809, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed017:809
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. Bonfiglioli, Alessandra & De Pace, Federica, 2021. "Export, Female Comparative Advantage and the Gender Wage Gap," CEPR Discussion Papers 15801, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Anna Matysiak & Wojciech Hardy & Lucas van der Velde, 2023. "Structural Labour Market Change and Gender Inequality in Earnings," Working Papers 2023-12, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
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    6. Devereux, Kevin, 2018. "Identifying the value of teamwork: Application to professional tennis," CLEF Working Paper Series 14, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    7. Marcin Chlebus & Artur Nowak, 2023. "From Alchemy to Analytics: Unleashing the Potential of Technical Analysis in Predicting Noble Metal Price Movement," Working Papers 2023-13, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
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    9. Jaimovich, Nir & Saporta-Eksten, Itay & Siu, Henry & Yedid-Levi, Yaniv, 2021. "The macroeconomics of automation: Data, theory, and policy analysis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 1-16.
    10. Alonzo, Davide & Gallipoli, Giovanni, 2023. "The Changing Value of Employment and Its Implications," CEPR Discussion Papers 17943, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
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    14. Giovanni Gallipoli & Khalil Esmkhani & Michael Böhm, 2019. "Skill-Biased Firms and the Distribution of Labor Market Returns," 2019 Meeting Papers 1199, Society for Economic Dynamics.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand

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