Disappearing middle class
Jun
23
05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Livestream
Evaluating policy options
In the last four decades, many industrialized economies have experienced the phenomenon of "job polarization,” where the fraction of the population working in middle-waged jobs has dropped. This process has been linked to automation, which replaces specific tasks of human labor. What happens to people who possess skills that are being replaced? And what options do governments have for coping with such changes?
Nir Jaimovich answered these and similar questions in his webinar on June 23 at 17:00 CET.
This was a public event with free access via livestream on our website.
This session was supported by the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).
Read our Twitter thread.
In the last four decades, many industrialized economies have experienced the phenomenon of "job polarization,” where the fraction of the population working in middle-waged jobs has dropped. This process has been linked to automation, which replaces specific tasks of human labor. What happens to people who possess skills that are being replaced? And what options do governments have for coping with such changes?
Nir Jaimovich answered these and similar questions in his webinar on June 23 at 17:00 CET.
Nir Jaimovich is Professor of Economics, Affiliated Professor at the UBS Center and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)
Topic summary
Disappearing middle class
The creeping hollowing out of the middle class and the rapidly advancing automation are central topics among policymakers, and there is certainly no shortage of dire predictions about the ascent of robots and subsequent obsolescence of workers. But – doomsday prophecies aside – what are the facts? What is happening to workers, specifically middle-class ones? And, from a policy perspective, what can (or should) be done to address this fundamental shift in who – or what – does which jobs? Nir Jaimovich’s Public Paper tackles these questions head-on. He first identifies the types of individuals who are likely to work in middle-class occupations and tracks how they act on the labor market outcomes. Then he evaluates policies proposed in recent years that have been aimed at combating the labor market malaise middle-class workers have experienced.
You can download a free copy here.
The creeping hollowing out of the middle class and the rapidly advancing automation are central topics among policymakers, and there is certainly no shortage of dire predictions about the ascent of robots and subsequent obsolescence of workers. But – doomsday prophecies aside – what are the facts? What is happening to workers, specifically middle-class ones? And, from a policy perspective, what can (or should) be done to address this fundamental shift in who – or what – does which jobs? Nir Jaimovich’s Public Paper tackles these questions head-on. He first identifies the types of individuals who are likely to work in middle-class occupations and tracks how they act on the labor market outcomes. Then he evaluates policies proposed in recent years that have been aimed at combating the labor market malaise middle-class workers have experienced.
You can download a free copy here.
Related press
Will the covid-19 pandemic accelerate automation? Economist 22.4.2020 read
Speakers
Nir Jaimovich is a macroeconomist who studies business cycles and the dynamics of the labor market. He is a research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and an associate editor of the Journal of Monetary Economics and the Journal of Economic Theory. Before joining the University of Zürich, Professor Jaimovich was on the faculty at the Marshall School of Business at USC, Duke University, Stanford University, and the University of California, San Diego. He was also a Research Associate in the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Economic Fluctuations and Growth program.
Professor of Economics, Director at the UBS Center
Ernst Fehr received his doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1986. His work has shown how social motives shape the cooperation, negotiations and coordination among actors and how this affects the functioning of incentives, markets and organisations. His work identifies important conditions under which cooperation flourishes and breaks down. The work on the psychological foundations of incentives informs us about the merits and the limits of financial incentives for the compensation of employees. In other work he has shown the importance of corporate culture for the performance of firms. In more recent work he shows how social motives affect how people vote on issues related to the redistribution of incomes and how differences in people’s intrinsic patience is related to wealth inequality. His work has found large resonance inside and outside academia with more than 100’000 Google Scholar citations and his work has been mentioned many times in international and national newspapers.
Nir Jaimovich is a macroeconomist who studies business cycles and the dynamics of the labor market. He is a research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and an associate editor of the Journal of Monetary Economics and the Journal of Economic Theory. Before joining the University of Zürich, Professor Jaimovich was on the faculty at the Marshall School of Business at USC, Duke University, Stanford University, and the University of California, San Diego. He was also a Research Associate in the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Economic Fluctuations and Growth program.
Professor of Economics, Director at the UBS Center
Ernst Fehr received his doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1986. His work has shown how social motives shape the cooperation, negotiations and coordination among actors and how this affects the functioning of incentives, markets and organisations. His work identifies important conditions under which cooperation flourishes and breaks down. The work on the psychological foundations of incentives informs us about the merits and the limits of financial incentives for the compensation of employees. In other work he has shown the importance of corporate culture for the performance of firms. In more recent work he shows how social motives affect how people vote on issues related to the redistribution of incomes and how differences in people’s intrinsic patience is related to wealth inequality. His work has found large resonance inside and outside academia with more than 100’000 Google Scholar citations and his work has been mentioned many times in international and national newspapers.