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Skilled labor-augmenting technical progress in U.S. manufacturing


Abstract: This paper examines the role of skilled labor in the growth of total factor productivity. We use panel data from manufacturing industries to assess the extent to which productivity growth in yearly cross section is tied to industry shares of skilled labor inputs. We find robust evidence that productivity growth was increasingly concentrated in high-skill industries during a unique ten-year period beginning in the early 1970s. We do not find any positive association of productivity growth with new capital investment.

Keywords: Labor market; Labor productivity; Technology;

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Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Part of Series: Staff Reports

Publication Date: 1998

Number: 47