Temporal Changes in Work Content

Hypotheses about temporal changes in work content over the past century include notions of the upgrading, downgrading, and no-change in skill requirements over time. Current evidence is limited largely to case studies. Analytically, two types of change underlie aggregate variations in skill requirements: change in the distribution of workers in jobs and actual change in the content ofjobs. Recent research for the first type of change in the American economy suggests a modest skill downgrading since 1900. Using data from two consecutive editions of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles for a sample of jobs, I present new evidence that shows small variations for the second type of change for the last 10-12 years. There has been a slight upgrading in skill requirements in several sectors of the labor force.