“Where Have the Middle-Wage Workers Gone?” Technology and Gendered Pathways in a Polarizing Labor Market

• In Event: Gender and Stratification

Abstract

Computerization has displaced middle-wage routine jobs, intensifying job polarization in the US labor market over the last few decades. I examine how this technology-driven shift reshapes workers’ career and wage trajectories and how gender and intersectional inequalities structure this process. Analyzing the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 (1980-2018) using sequence and cluster analysis, I identify seven representative career trajectories that reflect the mechanisms of routine-biased technological changes (RBTC). Multinomial regression analysis shows pronounced gender stratification in career trajectories: women are disproportionately represented in routine clerical, non-routine service, and non-employment-dominant career paths, whereas men are more likely to follow stable routine manual and non-routine cognitive careers. Educational level further stratifies the sorting process into these career paths. The mechanism of racial inequality diverges by gender: while race acts as a direct structural constraint on the opportunity structure for men, for women, it operates through an intersection with marital and familial status, creating unequal ‘safety nets’ that drive distinct racialized paths for Black and White women. These patterns are linked to wage polarization, reflected in declining wages among routine workers and increasing wages in non-routine cognitive jobs. The findings suggest that computerization operates as a new engine of social inequality by amplifying existing labor market disadvantages through gendered and racialized institutional filters.

Author

• Youngmin Chu, University of Minnesota