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Theory
Job polarization is the decline in middle wage occupations relative to high and low wage occupations. This a contrasting theory to a popular consensus that the increased use of information technology has held a biased benefit toward high skilled workers while hurting low skilled workers. However in a study Acemoglu and Autor 2011 showed that the level of demand for medium educated workers has declined while the demand for low and high educated workers has increased. The main hypothesis put forward to explain job polarization is that computers are able to automate routine task which have traditionally been held by middle wage workers. This complements the need for non routine cognitive task usually held by high wage workers. The rise of high wage workers results in the necessity for low wage workers who perform non routine manual task.

Routine Vs Non-Routine Labour
Autor grouped middle educated and middle paid workers into four major job categories (1) sales; (2) office and administrative; (3) production, craft and repair; and (4) operators, fabricators and laborers. These jobs are at risk due to job polarization because they fall under routine labour. Routine being that the majority of the work is procedural and ruled based. The routine nature of these jobs extends to both manual labour as well as cognitive and abstract jobs like sales, office, and administrative. Vahagn found in a study evidence that with the falling price of IT prices that there was an increase in the high wage workers while there was a decline in middle wage workers with the fall of IT prices.

Non-routine labor can be subdivided into two categories non-routine cognitive actives and non-routine physical activities. These two categories are on the opposite spectrum of routine cognitive task and routine labour. Non-routine cognitive task require workers with analytical skills and problem solving skills, intuition, persuasion, etc. These skills are usually associated with higher levels of education. Non-routine manual labour comparatively does not require higher levels of education but typically involves possessing good oral fluency, adaptability, people skills, physical ability etc. These types of jobs are very hard to automate which is why these jobs are in relative high demand. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projected that low-education service jobs would be a major source of US employment through 2018.

Studies
Goos and Manning concluded in a 2007 study that since the early 1990s Europe has experienced job polarization favoring an increase in high wage and low wage employment. This is inline with The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) who reported that across OECD countries middle skill jobs fell from 49% in 1995 to under 40% in 2015. Between 1947-1987 the average job displacement from industries adopting automation was 17%, while the reinstatement of new jobs was 19%. However, between 1987-2016, displacement was 16% and reinstatement was only 10% meaning a net displacement of -6%. Another study concludes that across the U.S. from 1993 to 2007 that each new robot replaced 3.3 jobs. Acemoglu and and Restrepo in a study found that in France between 2010 and 2015 firms that adopted robots became more productive and hired more workers. Competing firms that did not adopt robots did not perform as well and let go of workers. The firms that adopted robots had the amount of hours their employees work increase by 10% as well as having wages increase slightly. This study included 55,390 French manufacturing firms with only 598 buying robots during this 5 year study. These 598 firms manufactured 20% of all goods made despite only being 1% of manufacturing firms. The trend overall led to reduced employment. A 20% increase in robot use in manufacturing led to a decline of 3.2% in employment of this industry. Every 10% increase in robot adoption by firms led to competing firms employment decreasing by 2.5%. This is inline with another study in which Acemoglu concluded that across the U.S. from 1993 to 2007 that each new robot replaced 3.3 jobs. As job polarization began to become an issue in the US there was a simultaneous polarization of wages. Real wages for the middle class workers stagnated while earnings for the highest and lowest percentiles increased.