IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/scotjp/v52y2005i3p387-405.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Technology Adoption And The Skill Mix Of Us Manufacturing Plants

Author

Listed:
  • Timothy Dunne
  • Kenneth Troske

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between technology adoption and the skill mix of the workforce in US manufacturing plants. Using information on the use and adoption of seven different information technologies, we find that the relationship between technology adoption and workforce skill varies across the technologies. The use and adoption of engineering and design tasks are associated with workplaces that have a relatively large share of nonproduction labor. When we examine the relationship between technology adoption and skill upgrading of workforces, we find little correlation between the use and/or adoption of technologies and changes in workforce skill at the plant level. However, we do find that plants adopting technologies related to engineering and design tasks grow faster over the period 1987–1997.

Suggested Citation

  • Timothy Dunne & Kenneth Troske, 2005. "Technology Adoption And The Skill Mix Of Us Manufacturing Plants," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 52(3), pages 387-405, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:scotjp:v:52:y:2005:i:3:p:387-405
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0036-9292.2005.00350.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0036-9292.2005.00350.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.0036-9292.2005.00350.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Donald S. Siegel, 1999. "Skill-Biased Technological Change: Evidence from a Firm-Level Survey," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number sbtc.
    2. Ernst R. Berndt & Catherine J. Morrison & Larry S. Rosenblum, 1992. "High-Tech Capital Formation and Labor Composition in U.S. Manufacturing Industries: An Exploratory Analysis," NBER Working Papers 4010, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Steve J. Davis & John Haltiwanger, 1991. "Wage Dispersion Between and Within U.S. Manufacturing Plants, 1963-1986," NBER Working Papers 3722, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Adriaan Zon & Roberto Antonietti, 2016. "Education and training in a model of endogenous growth with creative wear-and-tear," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 33(1), pages 35-62, April.
    2. W. Craig Riddell & Xueda Song, 2017. "The Role of Education in Technology Use and Adoption: Evidence from the Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 70(5), pages 1219-1253, October.
    3. Natália Barbosa & Ana Faria, 2008. "Technology adoption: does labour skill matter? Evidence from Portuguese firm-level data," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 179-194, April.
    4. Gómez, Jaime & Vargas, Pilar, 2012. "Intangible resources and technology adoption in manufacturing firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(9), pages 1607-1619.
    5. Julie L. Hotchkiss & Myriam Quispe‐Agnoli & Fernando Rios‐Avila, 2015. "The wage impact of undocumented workers: Evidence from administrative data," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 81(4), pages 874-906, April.
    6. Fibla Gasparín, Ma. Teresa, 2010. "Productivity in southern European small firms: When and how work organization complements process innovation," Working Papers 2072/179600, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    7. Dumont, Michel & Rayp, Glenn & Willemé, Peter, 2012. "The bargaining position of low-skilled and high-skilled workers in a globalising world," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 312-319.
    8. Daniel Kuehn & Hal Salzman, 2018. "The Engineering Labor Market: An Overview of Recent Trends," NBER Chapters, in: US Engineering in a Global Economy, pages 11-46, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David H. Autor & Lawrence F. Katz & Alan B. Krueger, 1998. "Computing Inequality: Have Computers Changed the Labor Market?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1169-1213.
    2. Dunne, Timothy & Troske, Kenneth, 2004. "Technology Adoption and Workforce Skill in U.S. Manufacturing Plants," IZA Discussion Papers 1427, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Dunne, Timothy & Haltiwanger, John & Troske, Kenneth R., 1997. "Technology and jobs: secular changes and cyclical dynamics," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 107-178, June.
    4. Bhattacharya, Tulika & Bhandari, Bornali & Bairagya, Indrajit, 2020. "Where are the jobs? Estimating skill-based employment linkages across sectors for the Indian economy: An input-output analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 292-308.
    5. Adela Luque, 2003. "The Role of Technological and Industrial Heterogeneity In Technology Diffusion: a Markovian Approach," Working Papers 03-07, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    6. Adela Luque & C.J. Krizan, 2009. "The Micro-Dynamics of Skill Mix Changes in a Dual Labor Market: The Spanish Manufacturing Experience," Working Papers 09-12, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    7. Jae Song & David J Price & Fatih Guvenen & Nicholas Bloom & Till von Wachter, 2019. "Firming Up Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(1), pages 1-50.
    8. Richard Duhautois & Fabrice Gilles & Héloïse Petit, 2009. "Worker flows, job flows and establishment wage differentials: Analysing the case of France," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-00646440, HAL.
    9. Morrison Paul, Catherine J. & Siegel, Donald, 1997. "Automation Or Openness?: Technology And Trade Impacts On Costs And Labor Composition In The Food System," Strategy and Policy in the Food System: Emerging Issues, June 20-21, 1996, Washington, D.C. 25940, Regional Research Project NE-165 Private Strategies, Public Policies, and Food System Performance.
    10. James Spletzer & Elizabeth Weber Handwerker, 2015. "The Role of Establishments and the Concentration of Occupations in Wage Inequality," Working Papers id:7427, eSocialSciences.
    11. Burgess, Simon & Lane, Julia & Stevens, David, 1997. "Jobs, Workers and Changes in Earnings Dispersion," CEPR Discussion Papers 1714, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Peter Cappelli, 1995. "Rethinking Employment," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 563-602, December.
    13. Robert C. Feenstra & Gordon H. Hanson, "undated". "Productivity Measurement And The Impact Of Trade And Technology On Wages: Estimates For The U.S., 1972-1990," Department of Economics 97-17, California Davis - Department of Economics.
    14. Erling Barth & James Davis & Richard B. Freeman, 2018. "Augmenting the Human Capital Earnings Equation with Measures of Where People Work," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(S1), pages 71-97.
    15. KUROKAWA Futoshi, 2006. "The Contributions of IT-related Production Factors in Japanese Companies: The Estimation of Excess Returns(in Japanese)," ESRI Discussion paper series 166, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    16. Therry Lallemand & François Rycx, 2006. "Establishment Size and the Dipsersion of Wages: Evidence from european Countries," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 52(4), pages 309-336.
    17. Mark E. Doms & J . Bradford Jensen, 1998. "Comparing Wages, Skills, and Productivity between Domestically and Foreign-Owned Manufacturing Establishments in the United States," NBER Chapters, in: Geography and Ownership as Bases for Economic Accounting, pages 235-258, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Steven J. Davis & Magnus Henrekson, 1997. "Industrial Policy, Employer Size, and Economic Performance in Sweden," NBER Chapters, in: The Welfare State in Transition: Reforming the Swedish Model, pages 353-398, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Mehmet Ugur & Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Edna Solomon, 2018. "Technological Innovation And Employment In Derived Labour Demand Models: A Hierarchical Meta†Regression Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 50-82, February.
    20. Bernard, Andrew B. & Redding, Stephen & Schott, Peter K., 2003. "Product choice and product switching," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 3672, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:scotjp:v:52:y:2005:i:3:p:387-405. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sesssea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.