Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The aim of the originating project was to increase understanding of the past and possible future impact of increased international trade, mobility and investment on: i) Differences in income levels between countries (divergence or convergence, and - if convergence - levelling up or levelling down) ii) The relative and real wages of different sorts of 'skilled' workers This aim was addressed in four main ways. The first was to formalise ideas about the disaggregation of skilled workers, and the overlap between the concepts of skill and technology, by theoretical modelling. The second was to test hypotheses suggested by theory on evidence for all countries over the past 30 years. The third was to test hypotheses suggested by theory on evidence for skilled wages in developed countries over the past 30 years. The final way the objective was addressed was by testing the hypotheses suggested by theory against evidence from developed countries over the past two centuries. The data collection is the result of the data gathering exercise undertaken for this fourth approach.Main Topics:The dataset brings together a wide range of statistical information relating to patterns of globalisation, technology and wage inequality in a selection of now-developed countries between 1870 and 1970. The countries included are: United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden and Denmark. The information is classified into six broad sections: wages, migration, employment, trade, production and technology. Wages: Wages of skilled relative to unskilled manual workers, United States, 1870-1970 Wages of non-manual relative to manual workers, United States, 1890-1939 Wages of broad occupational categories, United States, 1939-1960 Summary of relative wages, United States, 1870-1970 Wages of non-manual and manual workers, Canada, 1905-1959 Wages of skilled and unskilled manual workers,...