Technology and the Wage Structure

This article reports direct evidence on how technological change is related to changes in wage gaps by schooling, experience, and gender. Wage gaps by schooling increased the most in industries with rising R&D intensity and accelerating growth in the capital‐labor ratio. Estimates of their relationship to high‐tech capital are inconclusive. Contrary to popular notions that technological change harms older workers, wage growth of experienced workers is much greater in R&D‐intensive industries than in industries with little R&D activity. The gender gap narrowed more in industries that most intensively used high‐tech capital in 1979.

[1]  J. Mincer.  Human Capital, Technology, and the Wage Structure: What Do Time Series Show? , 1991 .

[2]  Finis Welch,et al.  Education in Production , 1970, Journal of Political Economy.

[3]  George T. Milkovich,et al.  Rethinking rewards for technical employees , 1990 .

[4]  Kevin M. Murphy,et al.  Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill , 1993, Journal of Political Economy.

[5]  Ann P. Bartel,et al.  Technological Change and Retirement Decisions of Older Workers , 1993, Journal of Labor Economics.

[6]  F. Lichtenberg,et al.  The Comparative Advantage of Educated Workers in Implementing New Technology , 1987 .

[7]  Kevin M. Murphy,et al.  The Evolution of Unemployment in the United States: 1968-1985 , 1987, NBER Macroeconomics Annual.

[8]  Dale W. Jorgenson,et al.  Productivity and Economic Growth , 1990 .

[9]  Kenneth R. Troske,et al.  Workers, Wages, and Technology , 1997 .

[10]  R. Freeman.  Demand for Education , 1987 .

[11]  Ernst R. Berndt,et al.  High-Tech Capital Formation and Labor Composition in U.S. Manufacturing Industries: An Exploratory Analysis , 1992 .

[12]  John Van Reenen,et al.  Technical Change and Earnings in British Establishments , 1997 .

[13]  A. Krueger.  How Computers Have Changed the Wage Structure: Evidence from Microdata, 1984-1989 , 1991 .

[14]  J. Dinardo,et al.  The Returns to Computer Use Revisited: Have Pencils Changed the Wage Structure Too? , 1996 .

[15]  S. G. Allen.  Updated Notes on the Interindustry Wage Structure , 1994 .

[16]  S. H. Slichter.  Notes on the Structure of Wages , 1950 .

[17]  R. Nelson,et al.  Investment in humans, technological diffusion and economic growth , 1965 .

[18]  Zvi Griliches,et al.  Capital-Skill Complementarity , 1969 .

[19]  H. Entorf,et al.  Does unmeasured ability explain the higher wages of new technology workers , 1997 .

[20]  Hong W. Tan,et al.  Private Sector Training: Who Gets It and What Are Its Effects , 1986 .

[21]  N. Sicherman,et al.  Technological Change and Wages: An Inter-Industry Analysis , 1997 .

[22]  John Bound,et al.  Changes in the Structure of Wages During the 1980&Apos;S: an Evaluation of Alternative Explanations , 1989, The American economic review.

[23]  Z. Griliches,et al.  Changes in the Demand for Skilled Labor within U. S. Manufacturing: Evidence from the Annual Survey of Manufactures , 1994 .

[24]  Lawrence F. Katz,et al.  Computing Inequality: Have Computers Changed the Labor Market? , 1997 .

[25]  Jean Helwege,et al.  Sectoral Shifts and Interindustry Wage Differentials , 1992, Journal of Labor Economics.

[26]  Lawrence R. Mishel,et al.  Technology and the Wage Structure: Has Technology's Impact Accelerated Since the 1970s? , 1999 .

[27]  Theodore W. Schultz,et al.  The Value of the Ability to Deal with Disequilibria , 1975 .

[28]  David Card,et al.  Changes in the Relative Structure of Wages and Employment: A Comparison of the United States, Canada, and France , 1996 .

[29]  Derek Neal,et al.  Industry-Specific Human Capital: Evidence from Displaced Workers , 1995, Journal of Labor Economics.

[30]  Brent R. Moulton.  An Illustration of a Pitfall in Estimating the Effects of Aggregate Variables on Micro Unit , 1990 .

[31]  Ronald G. Ehrenberg,et al.  The Flow of New Doctorates , 1992 .

[32]  Changes in the Relative Structure of Wages and Employment: A Comparison of the United States, Canada, and France , 1996 .