Technology-Skill Complementarity on the Eve of the Industrial Revolution: New Evidence from England (1710-1772)

This paper revisits the debate over whether the technological changes in eighteenth-century England were complements to skilled workers, or whether they were substitutes, as believed by many. Using an exceptional and comprehensive set of evidence from tax records on apprenticeship indentures from all over Great Britain between 1710 and 1772 I find evidence consistent with the technology-skill complementarity view. Thus, the relative number of new apprentices in the mechanical occupations was increasing throughout the eighteenth century and since the 1730s’, a period of accelerated technological changes, the relative tuition paid to be apprenticed to these occupations was increasing as well. Furthermore, a breakdown of the occupations to categories of skill level reveals that the relative number of new apprentices in skilled occupation was continuously increasing. Interestingly, these trends are shown to have taken place in the regions where technological changes had an impact and are not apparent in the London area.