Task Polarization in the Japanese Labor Market: Evidence of a Long‐Term Trend

By quantifying the various skills required for different occupations, we examine the long‐term trend in labor‐market polarization in Japan in terms of tasks from 1960 to 2005. We find that the input share of nonroutine tasks has consistently and gradually increased, while that of routine tasks has decreased. With regard to nonroutine tasks, we observe an increase in the input shares of both high‐skilled analytical and interactive tasks and low‐skilled manual tasks. While we also find that the polarization depends on the introduction of technology, the progress of polarization is slower and smaller in Japan than in other countries.