The Individual-Level Patterns Underlying the Decline of Routine Jobs

This article reviews the findings from Cortes (2016) and Cortes, Jaimovich, and Siu (2017), which explore the micro-level patterns associated with the decline in middle-wage routine employment in the United States. I show that male workers who remain in routine jobs experience significantly slower long-run wage growth than those who switch to other occupations, even when compared to those who transition to lower-skill non-routine manual jobs. I also show that changes in the employment patterns of men with low levels of education and women with intermediate levels of education account for the majority of the decline in routine employment. Individuals with these demographic characteristics used to predominantly work in routine jobs. In more recent years, they have become increasingly likely to be out of work.