RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Non-College Occupations, Workplace Routinization, and Female College Enrollment
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 0523-12892R2
DO 10.3368/jhr.0124-13360R1
A1 Chuan, Amanda
A1 Zhang, Weilong
YR 2025
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2025/05/05/jhr.0124-13360R1.abstract
AB We evaluate the impact of routinization from 1960 to 2000 on college enrollment. Among non-college workers, routine occupations employed a substantial share of the female workforce, but this share plummeted from 1970 on. Using shift-share instruments, we show that routinization displaced women’s non-college occupations, raising female enrollment. Men’s non-college occupations were less vulnerable, leaving their enrollment rates largely unaffected. Embedding this instrumental variation into a Roy model explains the mechanisms. Gender differences in skill create a comparative advantage in manual work for non-college men, leaving women to sort into routine jobs, which were more vulnerable to routinization.