The role of within-occupation task changes in wage development

Arbeitspapier

We examine how changes in task content over time condition occupational wage development. Using survey data from Germany, we document substantial heterogeneity in within-occupational changes in task content. Combining this evidence with administrative data on individual employment outcomes over a 25-year period, we find important heterogeneity in wage penalties amongst initially routine intensive jobs. While occupations that remain (relatively) routine intensive generate substantial wage penalties, occupations with a decreasing routine intensity experience stable or even increasing wages. These findings cannot be explained by composition or cohort effects.

Object Details

• ISBN: 978-3-96973-140-6
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Ruhr Economic Papers ; No. 975

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity ; Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
• Subject: Technological progress ; polarization ; tasks ; routine workers ; training

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Bachmann, Ronald ; Demir, Gökay ; Green, Colin ; Uhlendorff, Arne
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung
• (where): Essen
• (when): 2022

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.4419/96973140
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/265441
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET