Are Automation and Trade Polarizing Developing Country Labor Markets, Too?
The automation and out-sourcing of routine, codifiable tasks are seen as driving polarization in labor markets in high-income countries. This paper first offers several explanations for why developing countries might show differing dynamics, at lea...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/869281482170996446/Are-automation-and-trade-polarizing-developing-country-labor-markets-too http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25821 |
| Summary: | The automation and out-sourcing of
routine, codifiable tasks are seen as driving polarization
in labor markets in high-income countries. This paper first
offers several explanations for why developing countries
might show differing dynamics, at least for the present.
Census data then confirms this, showing on average no
evidence of polarization in developing countries. However,
incipient polarization in a few countries as well as major
drives to automate in some large, labor intensive producers
suggests this may not remain the case. This raises concerns
first about the impact on equity within those countries, but
second the possibility that the traditional flying geese
pattern" -- whereby low skilled jobs are progressively
off-shored to poorer and poorer countries -- may be short circuited. |
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