« Polarisation(s) in Labour Markets » conference

The relative growth of wages and employment of high-wage occupations in the 1980s and 1990s and the relative growth of wages and employment of low-wage occupations compared to middle-wage occupations in the 1990s and the first decade of 2000 led to the polarisation of the labour market. This polarisation is largely explained by the automation of routine tasks that disappear in favor of non-routine manual or intellectual tasks. Although this phenomenon has been widely documented in the United States and Europe since the 1980s, many questions arise in the current context in which the conference will attempt to provide answers:

Is polarisation a partly cyclical phenomenon, since middle-wage occupations seem to be growing again (slightly) in the United States? What about the reallocation of jobs in Europe while total employment and participation in the labour market have evolved differently in different countries and labor market institutions (minimum wage, taxation ...) continue different goals? What roles do technological change, international trade, and workers training play in this reallocation? Finally, what is the role of firms in the development of polarisation and its geography?

This one-day conference will give the floor to researchers and international experts who will present their most recent work and will exchange with participants on three themes:
• Historical Perspective and Structural, Change,
• Polarisation of Firms and Polarisation of Territories,
• Wages and Public Policies.