It's Not Just the ATMs: Technology, Firm Strategies, Jobs, and Earnings in Retail Banking

Using data from extensive on-site interviews conducted in 1997, 1998, and 1999, the authors examine trends in job content and earnings in selected jobs in two American banks. Firm restructuring and technological changes resulted in higher earnings for college-educated workers. The banks followed different strategies in implementing these changes for lower-skill jobs, with different effects on bank tellers in particular. The authors conclude that technological change can provide opportunities for workplace reform but does not determine its effects on jobs and earnings; these effects are contingent on managerial strategies. This focus on organizational processes and managerial strategy provides a complement to accounts of growing inequality that center solely on the role of individual skills and technological change.

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