Title: Technical change and the wage structure during the second industrial revolution
Description: "Using a large, individual-level wage data set, we examine the impact of a major technological innovation the steam engine on skill demand and the wage structure in the merchant shipping industry.  We find that the technical change created a new demand for skilled workers, the engineers, while destroying demand for workers with skills relevant only to sail.  It had a deskilling effect on production work able-bodied seamen (essentially, artisans) were replaced by unskilled engine room operatives.  On the other hand, mates and able-bodied seamen employed on steam earned a premium relative to their counterparts on sail.  A wholesale switch from sail to steam would increase the 90/10 wage ratio by 40%, with most of the rise in inequality coming from the creation of the engineer occupation"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Subjects: Economic aspects, Economic aspects of Merchant marine, Merchant marine, Steam-engines