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Journal Article
Demand for College Labor in the 21st Century
Tracing the evolution of labor demand in the United States, this Economic Commentary reveals that the disproportionate rise in relative productivity of college-educated labor that shaped the latter half of the 20th century has plateaued since 2000. Our analysis suggests that technical change in the 21st century may no longer favor college graduates, in which case further growth in the employment share of college-educated workers would likely lower the premium that college-educated workers receive compared with non-college-educated workers.
Journal Article
Is High Productivity Growth Returning?
Productivity growth has shown a notable pickup since the fourth quarter of 2019, and some commentators cite artificial intelligence and other factors as reasons why technological progress can sustain this faster pace. Motivated by this consideration, we use a model designed to detect trend shifts to examine the behavior of productivity growth in the postwar period. The model allows for shifts between high- and low-growth productivity regimes and estimates the probability of being in one regime or the other. We find that recent data provide tentative support for a higher trend growth rate, ...
Journal Article
Are Young College Graduates Losing Their Edge in the Job Market?
High school graduates in their twenties have consistently experienced a higher unemployment rate than college graduates in the same age range. However, the unemployment gap between the two education groups has recently narrowed, reaching its lowest level since the late 1970s. This Economic Commentary shows that this narrowing coincides with a decades-long decline, one that began around 2000, in the job-finding rate among young college graduates.