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Title: New Technologies and the Labor Market

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2017

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Abstract: We examine the effect of the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the tasks that workers perform in their jobs, workers’ occupational choices, and the wages that workers of different skill levels earn. Using the text from help wanted ads published between 1960 and 2000, we construct a data set that measures the adoption of 40 ICTs. We find that new technologies are associated with an increase in nonroutine analytic tasks, and a decrease in nonroutine interactive, routine cognitive, and manual tasks. We embed these interactions in a quantitative model of worker sorting across occupations and technology adoption, and evaluate the impact of the arrival of ICTs on the aggregate demand for worker-performed tasks and on earnings inequality. Through the lens of the model, the arrival of ICTs generates a large shift away from routine tasks, and, consequently, an increase in inequality since (i) high wage workers tend to adopt ICTs and (ii) relative to high wage workers, low wage workers have a comparative advantage in performing routine tasks.

Url: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/278a/46a6647c6172060a97c8cffa38995ff45de8.pdf

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Authors: Atalay, Enghin; Phongthiengtham, Phai; Sotelo, Sebastian; Tannenbaum, Daniel

Publisher: University of Wisconsin-Madison

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure

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