Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP13323
Authors: Matias Cortes; Nir Jaimovich; Henry Siu
Abstract: We document a new finding regarding changes in labor market outcomes for high-skilled men and women in the US. Since 1980, conditional on being a college-educated man, the probability of working in a cognitive/high-wage occupation has fallen. This contrasts starkly with the experience for college-educated women: their probability of working in these occupations rose, despite a much larger increase in the supply of educated women relative to men. We show that one key channel capable of rationalizing these findings is a greater increase in the demand for female-oriented skills in cognitive/high-wage occupations relative to other occupations. Using occupation-level data, we find evidence that this relative increase in the demand for female skills is due to an increasing importance of social skills within such occupations. Evidence from both male and female wages is also indicative of an increase in the demand for social skills. Finally, we document how these patterns change across the early and latter portions of the period.
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Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| demand for female labor (J21) | probability of college-educated women working in cognitive high-wage occupations (J24) |
| demand for female-oriented skills (J21) | probability of college-educated women working in cognitive high-wage occupations (J24) |
| demand for female labor relative to male labor in good jobs (J21) | changes in labor market outcomes for high-skilled women (J29) |
| changes in discrimination across occupations (J79) | changes in labor market outcomes for high-skilled men and women (J49) |
| changes in comparative advantage between genders (J79) | changes in labor market outcomes for high-skilled men and women (J49) |
| rising female share of employment in cognitive high-wage occupations (J21) | probability of college-educated men working in cognitive high-wage occupations (J24) |