After a decade in which wages and employment fell precipitously in low-skill occupations and expanded in high …-skill occupations, the shape of U.S. earnings and job growth sharply polarized in the 1990s. Employment shares and relative earnings … rose in both low and high-skill jobs, leading to a distinct U-shaped relationship between skill levels and employment and …

We offer an integrated explanation and empirical analysis of the polarization of U.S. employment and wages between 1980 … service occupations (employment polarization), experienced earnings growth at the tails of the distribution (wage polarization …