Eliza Forsythe (University of Illinois) Computerization of White Collar Jobs (with Marcus Dillender) Abstract: We investigate the impact of computerization of white-collar jobs on wages and employment. Using online job postings from 2007 and 2010--2016 for office and administrative support (OAS) jobs, we show that when firms adopt new software at the job-title level they increase the skills required of job applicants. Furthermore, firms change the task content of such jobs, broadening them to include tasks associated with higher-skill office functions. We aggregate these patterns to the local labor-market level, instrumenting for local technology adoption with national measures. We find that a 1 standard deviation increase in OAS technology usage reduces employment in OAS occupations by about 1 percentage point and increases wages for college graduates in OAS jobs by over 3 percent. We find negative wage spillovers, with wages falling for both workers with and without a college degree. These results are consistent with technological adoption inducing a realignment in task assignment across occupations, leading office support occupations to become higher skill. We argue relative wage gains for OAS workers indicates that factor-augmenting features of OAS technological change dominate task-substituting features. In addition, while we find that total employment increases, these gains primarily accrue to college-educated women.
eCornell Keynote Many apparel companies source from suppliers in countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, and Vietnam, which together house around 10,000 apparel and footwear factories. Analyses by the Global Labor Institute at the ILR School and Schroders reveal that extreme heat and flooding are threats to key apparel production hubs. Join the ILR School’s Global Labor Institute Executive Director Jason Judd and PT. Pan Brothers Vice CEO Anne Patricia Sutanto as they discuss the new report that examines climate breakdown and its impact upon apparel production. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN Analyses by the Global Labor Institute at the ILR School and Schroders on extreme heat and flooding as threats to key apparel production hubsRisks and losses in major fashion production marketsRegions identified as the most climate-vulnerable production centersInvestors’ perspectives on adaptation and mitigation in risk plansDiscussion on redistributing costs and risks away from apparel workersSPEAKERS Anne Patricia Sutanto VICE CEO, PT. Pan Brothers Tbk Jason Judd EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GLOBAL LABOR INSTITUTE Cornell ILR School
eCornell Keynote The majority of jobs today are filled by hiring internal candidates — either through “posting,” where a manager posts an open job and candidates apply, or “slotting,” where a manager personally identifies a preferred candidate and “slots” them into the job. Outcomes for posted employees versus slotted employees vary greatly, particularly in quality of hire and compensation. Compared with slotted employees, posted employees have much higher performance ratings, earn higher salaries, and are less likely to exit the firm. Slotted employees measure below in all categories. Why is that? There’s also the shifty dynamic known as “talent hoarding,” where high-performing employees are held back in a position to benefit the department, to the detriment of the employee and the organization as a whole. In this fast-paced, interactive discussion, we’ll look at recent research on internal hiring practices and how best to manage the process. Join Cornell’s JR Keller and Harvard Business Review’s Angela Cheng-Cimini for a look at what’s happening in hiring and how you can improve practices at your organization through talent mobility. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN How different hiring processes influence employee performance, salary, and retention outcomesWhy relational processes like slotting tend to deliver less-than-optimal outcomesHow more rigid, market-based processes bring about better resultsSPEAKERS Angela Cheng-Cimini ‘92 CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER Harvard Business Publishing JR Keller ASSISTANT PROFESSOR Cornell ILR School
Elmer Zongyang Li (Cornell) Optimal Skill Mixing Under Technological Advancements Abstract: Using worker surveys and online job posting data, I document that the U.S. economy has seen a substantial increase in the mixing of skill requirements from 2005-2018, both for incumbent jobs and newly posted vacancies. American workers increasingly work in occupations that demand mixtures of analytical, computer, and interpersonal skills rather than specializing in one of them, even within granular occupations. This change occurred primarily in low- to medium-wage occupations, and the return to working in occupations or studying college majors with more mixed skills also has increased. To understand the sources of these shifts, I build a directed search model with multi-dimensional skills in which firms optimally choose occupations’ skill intensities before producing with a worker, delivering endogenous specialization in skill demand. Counterfactual analysis shows that the rise in the complementarity of skills in production and in the cost of skills for occupation operation are the main drivers of skill mixing shifts and corresponding wage and employment dynamics in this period.
Dr. Sharon Wright Austin will discuss the challenges for educators at colleges and universities both in Florida and in other states. Several states have passed legislation to curtail the academic freedom of faculty, especially when they teach material pertaining to race, gender, and sexual orientation. Dr. Austin will provide an overview of this legislation with a focus on Florida and the methods campus communities are using to fight against censorship. Dr. Austin is Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on African-American women’s political behavior, African-American mayoral elections, rural African-American political activism, and African-American political behavior. Dr. Austin's recent books include: The Caribbeanization of Black Politics: Race, Group Consciousness, and Political Participation in America (State University of New York Press 2018); Beyond Racial Capitalism: Cooperatives in the African Diaspora (Oxford University Press 2023 and co-edited with Caroline Shenaz Hossein and Kevin Edmonds). and Political Black Girl Magic: The Elections and Governance of Black Female Mayors (In Production, Temple University Press 2023). There will be a reception following the talk. Sponsors: ILR School and ILR Worker Institute Cosponsors: American Studies Program Government Department Cornell Law School Black Law Students Association Law & Society Minor Cornell Chapter of the AAUP People's Organizing Collective Cornell
