Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name:  Chinhui Juhn
Author-X-Name-First: Chinhui
Author-X-Name-Last: Juhn
Author-Email:  cjuhn@uh.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, University of Houston
Author-Name:  Aimee Chin	
Author-X-Name-First: Aimee
Author-X-Name-Last: Chin
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, University of Houston
Author-Email:  achin@mail.uh.edu
Author-Name:  Peter Thompson	
Author-X-Name-First: Peter
Author-X-Name-Last: Thompson
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, Florida International University
Author-Email:  peter.thompson2@fiu.edu
Title:  Technical Change and the Wage Structure During the Second Industrial Revolution: Evidence from the Merchant Marine, 1865-1912
Abstract: Using a large, individual-level wage data set, we examine the impact of a major
technological innovation—the steam engine—on skill demand and the wage
structure in the merchant shipping industry. We find that the technical change
created a new demand for skilled workers, the engineers, while destroying demand
for workers with skills relevant only to sail. It had a deskilling effect on production
work—able-bodied seamen (essentially, artisans) were replaced by unskilled engine
room operatives. On the other hand, mates and able-bodied seamen employed on
steam earned a premium relative to their counterparts on sail. A wholesale switch
from sail to steam would increase the 90/10 wage ratio by 40%, with most of the
rise in inequality coming from the creation of the engineer occupation.
Length:  49 pages
Creation-Date:  2004-08
File-URL: http://www.uh.edu/econpapers/RePEc/hou/wpaper/2004-03.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
Number: 2004-03
Classification-JEL: I20, J24, J31
Handle: RePEc:hou:wpaper:2004-03