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Job Routinisation and Labour Market Inequality in Australia

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  • Minrui Huang
  • Zhe (Jasmine) Jiang

Abstract

This paper examines how the degree of routinisation in Australian jobs influences the breakdown of employment, with a focus on how effects vary across different sectors, skill levels, and regions. Using census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, we document rising employment inequality in the past decade, verifying that technological change is associated with more overall employment for high-skill workers and less for those with low skills. At the same time, compared to jobs in the non-service sector, those in the service sector appear to be sheltered from the effects of automation and job routinisation, resulting in more service sector jobs for workers of both skill levels. Finally, from a spatial perspective, a high initial share of routine employment in a given region is associated with increases in both low-skill employment, owing to reallocation of the labour force into the service sector, and high-skill employment, owing to demand.

Suggested Citation

  • Minrui Huang & Zhe (Jasmine) Jiang, 2024. "Job Routinisation and Labour Market Inequality in Australia," Working Papers 2024-18, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:syd:wpaper:2024-18
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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.
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    3. repec:bla:ecorec:v:69:y:1993:i:204:p:61-76 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. R.G. Gregory, 1993. "Aspects of Australian and US Living Standards: The Disappointing Decades 1970–1990," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 69(1), pages 61-76, March.
    5. Jeff Borland & Michael Coelli, 2017. "Are Robots Taking Our Jobs?," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 50(4), pages 377-397, December.
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