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We investigate changes in the occupation structure in Australia between 1966 and 2011, and the effect of these changes on the earnings distribution. Occupation changes exhibited job polarisation (growth in high and low skill jobs, declines in middle skill jobs) in the 1980s and 1990s and general upskilling in the 1970s and 2000s. Any job polarisation has been primarily a male phenomenon. Occupation changes were consistent with the loss of jobs that were high in routine task intensity. Changes in occupational composition and associated earnings changes contributed significantly to growth in overall earnings inequality from the mid‐1980s to the mid‐2000s.

This article assesses the effect of computerbased technologies on employment in Australia. We find that: (i) the total amount of work available has not decreased following the introduction of computer-based technologies; and (ii) the pace of structural change and job turnover in the labour market has not accelerated with the increasing application of computer-based technologies. A review of recent studies that claim computer-based technologies may be about to cause widespread job destruction establishes several major flaws with these predictions. Our suggested explanation for why techno-phobia has such a grip on popular imagination is a human bias to believe that 'we live in special times'.

The relationship between tuition fee changes and the university enrolment of