Job Creation, Task Changes, and Inequality
Date of Award
Spring 2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Management
First Advisor
Sorenson, Olav
Abstract
What we do at our jobs has changed over time. At least in the U.S., globalization and technological advances continue to substitute for routine tasks performed in various jobs while creating further demand for analytical and interactive skills. Moreover, new jobs are being created while old ones are becoming obliterated as a result of these changes. In my dissertation, I explore the changing landscape of jobs and how the changes contribute to inequality. I particularly focus on how jobs and occupations change in relation to each other. In the first essay, I examine how competition over task domains affects high- and low-skilled occupations differently. To do so, I utilize data from O*NET and the American Community Survey to analyze the universe of occupations in the U.S. The second essay explores how the growth of the high-tech sector affects the creation of businesses and employment in other industries. Venture capital (VC) investments are used as a semi-exogenous source of variation in the growth of high-tech industries to investigate how such growth influences business creation, employment and wages in other industries of that region. In the third essay, I investigate how job creation in a region affects regional and industry mobility patterns of workers. To do so, I leverage information on manufacturing plant openings and examine the mobility pattern of new hires before and after a plant opening. This dissertation contributes to research on human capital, careers, entrepreneurship, and the future of work. The first essay builds on literature on jurisdictional competition by connecting the jurisdictional dynamics to occupational level changes of tasks and societal level inequality. The second essay contributes to research on entrepreneurship and inequality by examining how high-tech entrepreneurship can affect the shift in industry composition at the regional level, leading to greater inequality in certain industries. The third essay draws from literature on local job multipliers and offers further insight into who gets hired into the different jobs created in the region, suggesting hiring patterns as a mechanism for inequality. Altogether, my dissertation offers practical insight to managers and policymakers on the unintended consequences of job design and job creation. The first essay highlights the relevance of managers considering organic competition between occupations and how they operate under positional hierarchy. The second and third essays inform policymakers of additional factors necessary to consider when attracting certain corporations or industries into their regions.
Recommended Citation
Kwon, Doris Do Kyung, "Job Creation, Task Changes, and Inequality" (2023). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations. 906.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/gsas_dissertations/906
