Suchergebnisse

Abstract Educational attainment increased markedly in New Zealand between 1986 and 2001, while the income premia for higher qualifications first increased and then stabilised or decreased over the 1990s. We first document the growth in qualification‐based skills and then examine its contribution to average income growth and the relationship with relative demand changes. Of the 15 per cent increase in real average incomes between 1986 and 2001, upskilling accounted for 25 per cent, while 70 per cent was due to income growth across all qualifications. The pattern of qualification employment share and relative income changes provides evidence of changing demand for skills within detailed industry–occupation cells.

Many developing countries have experienced growing income inequality and an increase in the relative demand for skilled workers during the 1980s. The sources of this trend remain a puzzle. The paper examines whether investment and adoption of skill-biased technology have contributed to within-industry skill upgrading in Chilean plants. The author investigates whether plant-level measures of capital and investment, the use of imported materials, foreign technical assistance, and patented technology affect the relative demand for skilled workers. Some of the increased relative demand for skilled workers can be attributed to capital deepening. The results suggest that plant adoption of foreign technology is not associated with plant skill upgrading. (InWent/DÜI)

AbstractOutbound FDI is often accused of increasing income inequality in developed countries by shifting labour demand from low‐skilled towards high‐skilled workers (wage polarization). In response, we employ data on greenfield FDI that, in contrast to M&As, may be more clearly linked to skill upgrading. Our data also delineate greenfield FDI by sector, function and destination, allowing us to control for different motives and skill intensities for 17 developed countries for 2003–2005. We find that greenfield FDI in support services, e.g., back and front office services, induces polarized skill upgrading, benefitting high‐skilled workers at the expense of medium‐skilled workers, thereby polarizing wages.