Abstract:
Employment by gasoline stations increased between 1977 and 1992, a period during which many stations converted from full-service to self-service pumps, outsourcing to customers tasks previously performed by employees. Applying several identifi cation strategies to establishment-level data from the Census of Retail Trade over this period, we show that self-service stations employ approximately 0.4 fewer workers per pump. At the same time, stations that adopted self service expanded their size and diversified operations by adding convenience stores, mitigating the job-loss impact of self service.