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Title: The Role of Gender in Employment Polarization

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2016

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Abstract: We show that the process of employment polarization in the U.S. is largely generated by women entering the labor market during a period of sustained skill-biased technological change and rise of the services economy. For women, employment shares increase both at the bottom and at the top of the skill distribution, generating the typical U-shape polarization graph, while for men employment shares decrease in a similar fashion along the whole skill distribution. We extend the canonical model of skill-biased technological change by introducing three building blocks: a gender dimension, an endogenous market/home labor choice and a multi-sector environment. In the calibrated model, technological change induces a higher participation to the labor market of educated women who, in turn, reduce work time at home and increase the demand for low skilled services, generating a higher participation of uneducated women to the labor market. The model performs well in replicating polarization graphs by gender, marital status and sector and is consistent with several empirical observations of the U.S. economy that are not calibration targets.

Url: http://www.siecon.org/online/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/CERINA-1.pdf

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Authors: Cerina, Fabio; Moro, Alessio; Rendall, Michelle

Publisher: University of Cagliari

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Gender, Labor Force and Occupational Structure

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