Jobs for the skilled: how technology, trade, and domestic demand changed the structure of UK employment, 1979-90

A new method is developed for allocating the changing use of skills among f inal demand growth, trade and technological change. In a multi-sector frame work the skills content of intermediate and capital goods purchased is capt ured through input-output data. Technological change is measured through th e changing use of labour, within the sector and in its purchased inputs. Th ree skill revels are identified from detailed occupations. Domestic demand growth (employment-creating) and technological change (labour-saving) both show marked skill bias. The effects of trade are small, Most strikingly, th e services sector generates high-skilled even more than low-skilled jobs, a nd new employment through supply chains.