The skill content of recent technological change

an empirical exploration

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Last edited by MARC Bot
July 14, 2020 | History

The skill content of recent technological change

an empirical exploration

We apply an understanding of what computers do - the execution of procedural or rules-based logic - to study how computer technology alters job skill demands. We contend that computer capital (1) substitutes for a limited and well-defined set of human activities, those involving routine (repetitive) cognitive and manual tasks; and (2) complements activities involving non-routine problem solving and interactive tasks. Provided these tasks are imperfect substitutes, our model implies measurable changes in the task content of employment, which we explore using representative data on job task requirements over 1960-1998. Computerization is associated with declining relative industry demand for routine manual and cognitive tasks and increased relative demand for non-routine cognitive tasks. Shifts are evident within detailed industries, within detailed occupation, and within education groups within industries. Translating observed taskshifts into educational demands, the sum of within-industry and within-occupation task changes explains thirty to forty percent of the observed relative demand shift favoring college versus non-college labor during 1970 to 1998, with the largest impact felt after 1980. Changes in task content within nominally identical occupations explain more than half of the overall demand shift induced by computerization. Keywords: Technological Change, Inequality, Computerization, Labor Demand, Demand for Skill.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
39

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Edition Availability
Cover of: The skill content of recent technological change
The skill content of recent technological change: an empirical exploration
2001, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics
in English

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Title from cover.

"June 2001." "June 2001, revised from January 2000"--Abstract.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-39).

Abstract in HTML and working paper for download in PDF available via World Wide Web at the Social Science Research Network.

Supported in part by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation and the MIT-Ford Research Collaboration.

Published in
Cambridge, MA
Series
Working paper series / Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics -- working paper 01-22, Working paper (Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics) -- no. 01-22.

The Physical Object

Pagination
39, 4, [17] p. :
Number of pages
39

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL24639691M
Internet Archive
skillcontentofre00auto
OCLC/WorldCat
49807462

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Internet Archive item record

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July 14, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot remove fake subjects
April 29, 2011 Created by ImportBot initial import