Skill-Biased Technical Change and Employment in U.S. Manufacturing

I propose a new method to decompose employment changes by skill type into changes caused by output, labor supply, production task concentration, and laboraugmenting technology, using market equilibrium conditions within a constant elasticity of substitution production framework. Studying manufacturing industries from 1990 to 2007, I find that labor-augmenting technology, by reducing labor per unit of output, is the leading source of displacement overall. However, a shift toward highskill tasks is even more important in displacing non-college workers, who represent a majority of employment. In applications, I explore the impacts of import penetration from China and susceptibility to automation and offshoring