Hollowing out of middle‐pay jobs in Ohio: An exploratory analysis

Abstract

AbstractHollowing out is a term that refers to the decline in the share of middle‐pay and middle‐skilled jobs relative to low‐pay and high‐pay jobs. This study employs county‐level occupational data at the place of employment to document hollowing out of middle‐pay jobs across regions in Ohio. The county‐level data with occupational information allow us to study how regions' economic heterogeneity contributes to the decline of middle‐paying jobs in Ohio over the 2001–2019 period. Of 88 counties in Ohio, 77 counties experienced declines in the shares of middle‐paying jobs. On average, Appalachian Ohio counties experienced higher hollowing out rates than other counties. We found that the hollowing out of middle‐paying jobs in Ohio is associated with the declines in the shares of manufacturing and mining jobs.