The Long Run Bias Against Manual Workers in British Manufacturing 1920 – 1995

This paper presents quantitative estimates of the effects of technological change on the composition of manual and non-manual employment in manufacturing in the United Kingdom for the period 1921 – 1995. The paper separates the effects of relative wage change, biased technological change and changes in sectoral composition and calculates the upward pressure on relative pay exerted by biased technological change.