Author(s): Lindsey Uniat
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What role have factors affecting female labor supply, such as social norms and discrimination, played in the decline of routine jobs in the U.S. since the 1970’s? While typically attributed to changes in labor demand, the decline in routine employment has been larger for women than men, reflecting a shift of female employment out of routine clerical jobs and into non-routine professions. This paper presents a quantitative analysis of the impact of falling labor market distortions faced by women in explaining the trend. One observable manifestation of these falling distortions is the Quiet Revolution, which refers to a shift in women’s life cycle labor force attachment from intermittent to continuous after 1970; it spurred the rise of female non-routine employment because these are long-term careers that reward experience. I develop and calibrate an equilibrium model of the labor market featuring the Quiet Revolution, discrimination, and improvement in automation. Counterfactual analyses reveal that the Quiet Revolution and reduced discrimination explain 21% and 59%, respectively, of the growth of non-routine relative to routine white-collar employment among women between 1970 and 2000. Together, they explain 36% of the aggregate increase, while automation explains 56%. Finally, the Quiet Revolution raised output per worker by 3% via increased female experience.
Published: 2024-12-28 14:31:37 PT
Stage: Working Paper
Fields: Macroeconomics, Labor Economics
Research Group(s): Playground
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Versions: v1 (12/28/2024)