The expanding middle: Some Canadian evidence of the deskilling debate

by John Myles
Business and Labour Market Analysis Division
Analytical Studies Branch research paper series, No. 009

This study addresses recent debates over trends in class structure that have emerged from the deskilling debate. The general conclusion I draw from an analysis of both census and survey data is that actual patterns and trends in the skill distribution of jobs are more complex than either the "deskilling" or "upgrading" theses would indicate.

During the sixties and seventies the skill content of the labour force grew at an accelerating rate as a result of the expansion of "new middle class" professional, technical and managerial occupations. Patterns within working class occupations are more ambiguous: estimates based on the census distribution of occupations ranked by skill indicate a monotonic pattern of upgrading while survey results for the early eighties suggest a split or dual labour market for job skills.

In the past, changes in the skill distribution were a result of a shift in employment from the production of goods to the production of services. Future changes, however, will occur largely within the service sector simply because that is where most jobs are now located. Canada's service economy, like the American, is marked by a distinctly bifurcated skill distribution. Comparative studies, however, indicate this is a contingent rather than a necessary feature of a post-industrial economy, a result of political as well as market forces.

Not available electronically.