The least-skilled workforce in the United States is disproportionally employed in the provision of time-intensive services that can be thought of as market-substitutes for home production activities. At the same time, skilled workers–with their high opportunity cost of time–spend a larger fraction of their budget in these services. Given the skill asymmetry between consumers and providers in this market, product demand shifts–such as those arising when relative skilled wages increase–should boost relative labor demand for the least-skilled workforce. We estimate that this channel may explain one-third of the growth of employment of non-college workers in low-skill services in the 1990s.
Spillovers from high-skill consumption to low-skill labor markets / Mazzolari, F.; Ragusa, G.. - In: THE REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS. - ISSN 0034-6535. - 95:1(2013), pp. 74-86. [10.1162/REST_a_00234]
Spillovers from high-skill consumption to low-skill labor markets
G. Ragusa
2013
Abstract
The least-skilled workforce in the United States is disproportionally employed in the provision of time-intensive services that can be thought of as market-substitutes for home production activities. At the same time, skilled workers–with their high opportunity cost of time–spend a larger fraction of their budget in these services. Given the skill asymmetry between consumers and providers in this market, product demand shifts–such as those arising when relative skilled wages increase–should boost relative labor demand for the least-skilled workforce. We estimate that this channel may explain one-third of the growth of employment of non-college workers in low-skill services in the 1990s.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
