The shifting structure of jobs and populism
Populism and nationalism can have many causes: fear of immigration, weak growth, high unemployment, offshoring, etc. We think that one mechanism plays an important role in explaining the rise of populism and nationalism: the declining quality of jobs due to the shift in their structure towards unsophisticated and poorly paid jobs in domestic (household) services. This results in a sense of downward social mobility: intermediate jobs are being destroyed and replaced with unsophisticated jobs that pay lower wages and do not require a high level of educational attainment. Among OECD countries, the shift in the structure of jobs from industry to domestic services is particularly pronounced in the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Portugal, Ireland and Denmark, which may explain the rise of populism in the United States, the United Kingdom and France. But the shift in the structure of jobs is less pronounced in Germany, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland, which has not always prevented the rise of populism.