Restructuring

Capital (architecture)

Gene

Labour economics

Biology

Wage

Complement (music)

Archaeology

Economics

Market economy

Biochemistry

Keynesian economics

Recession

Complementation

Monetary economics

Human capital

Great recession

Finance

Phenotype

History

American Economic Review

We show that skill requirements in job vacancy postings differentially increased in MSAs that were hit hard by the Great Recession, relative to less hard-hit areas. These increases persist through at least the end of 2015 and are correlated with increases in capital investments, both at the MSA and firm levels. We also find that effects are most pronounced in routine-cognitive occupations, which exhibit relative wage growth as well. We argue that this evidence is consistent with the restructuring of production toward routine-biased technologies and the more-skilled workers that complement them, and that the Great Recession accelerated this process. (JEL E24, E32, J24, J31, J63, L23, O33)

Do Recessions Accelerate Routine-Biased Technological Change? Evidence from Vacancy Postings