Do Recessions Accelerate Routine-Biased Technological Change? Evidence from Vacancy Postings / Brad Hershbein, Lisa B. Kahn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hershbein, Brad.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Kahn, Lisa B.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w22762.

NBER working paper series no. w22762

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2016.

Summary:

We show that skill requirements in job vacancy postings differentially increased in MSAs that were hit hard by the Great Recession, relative to less hard-hit areas. These increases persist through at least the end of 2015 and are correlated with increases in capital investments, both at the MSA and firm-levels. We also find that effects are most pronounced in routine-cognitive occupations, which exhibit relative wage growth as well. We argue that this evidence is consistent with the restructuring of production toward routine-biased technologies and the more-skilled workers that complement them, and that the Great Recession accelerated this process.

Notes:

Print version record

October 2016.