Skilled Labor

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Lorin M Hitt - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • information technology workplace organization and the demand for Skilled Labor firm level evidence
    Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2002
    Co-Authors: Timothy F Bresnahan, Erik Brynjolfsson, Lorin M Hitt
    Abstract:

    We investigate the hypothesis that the combination of three related innovations—1) information technology (IT), 2) complementary workplace reorganization, and 3) new products and services—constitute a significant skill-biased technical change affecting Labor demand in the United States. Using detailed firm-level data, we find evidence of complementarities among all three of these innovations in factor demand and productivity regressions. In addition, firms that adopt these innovations tend to use more Skilled Labor. The effects of IT on Labor demand are greater when IT is combined with the particular organizational investments we identify, highlighting the importance of IT-enabled organizational change.

  • information technology workplace organization and the demand for Skilled Labor firm level evidence
    National Bureau of Economic Research, 1999
    Co-Authors: Timothy F Bresnahan, Erik Brynjolfsson, Lorin M Hitt
    Abstract:

    Recently, the relative demand for Skilled Labor has increased dramatically. We investigate one of the causes, skill-biased technical change. Advances in information technology (IT) are among the most powerful forces bearing on the economy. Employers who use IT often make complementary innovations in their organizations and in the services they offer. Our hypothesis is that these co-inventions by IT users change the mix of skills that employers demand. Specifically, we test the hypothesis that it is a cluster of complementary changes involving IT, workplace organization and services that is the key skill-biased technical change. We examine new firm-level data linking several indicators of IT use, workplace organization, and the demand for Skilled Labor. In both a short-run factor demand framework and a production function framework, we find evidence for complementarity. IT use is complementary to a new workplace organization which includes broader job responsibilities for line workers, more decentralized decision-making, and more self-managing teams. In turn, both IT and that new organization are complements with worker skill, measured in a variety of ways. Further, the managers in our survey believe that IT increases skill requirements and autonomy among workers in their firms. Taken together, the results highlight the roles of both IT and IT-enabled organizational change as important components of the skill-biased technical change.

  • information technology and recent changes in work organization increase the demand for Skilled Labor
    1999
    Co-Authors: Timothy F Bresnahan, Erik Brynjolfsson, Lorin M Hitt
    Abstract:

    Recently, Labor demand has shifted in favor of high-wage, high-skill work, contributing to a substantial rise in income inequality in the United States. We argue that information technology (IT) and associated changes in work organization are important causes of this shift. IT is among the most important technological changes affecting the economy and employers who use IT usually co-invent new approaches to workplace organization and new product and service offerings. IT and the co-inventions together change the mix of skills that employers demand, often substituting computers for low skill work while complementing work that requires certain cognitive and social skills. We show how this creates a four-way complementary system consisting of IT, new work organization, new levels of service quality, and high-skill Labor. Our argument is supported by firm-level data linking several indicators of IT use, workplace organization, and the demand for Skilled Labor. Specifically, we find that IT use is correlated with a new workplace organization that includes broader job responsibilities for line workers, more decentralized decision-making, and more self-managing teams. In turn, both IT and that new organization are correlated with worker skill, measured in a variety of ways. Significantly, we find that firms which attempt to implement only one of the hypothesized complements without the others are less productive than firms which invest in all the complements. Taken together, the results highlight the importance of organizational changes stimulated by IT in the changing demand workers of different types.

James A Kahn - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

Timothy F Bresnahan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • information technology workplace organization and the demand for Skilled Labor firm level evidence
    Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2002
    Co-Authors: Timothy F Bresnahan, Erik Brynjolfsson, Lorin M Hitt
    Abstract:

    We investigate the hypothesis that the combination of three related innovations—1) information technology (IT), 2) complementary workplace reorganization, and 3) new products and services—constitute a significant skill-biased technical change affecting Labor demand in the United States. Using detailed firm-level data, we find evidence of complementarities among all three of these innovations in factor demand and productivity regressions. In addition, firms that adopt these innovations tend to use more Skilled Labor. The effects of IT on Labor demand are greater when IT is combined with the particular organizational investments we identify, highlighting the importance of IT-enabled organizational change.

  • information technology workplace organization and the demand for Skilled Labor firm level evidence
    National Bureau of Economic Research, 1999
    Co-Authors: Timothy F Bresnahan, Erik Brynjolfsson, Lorin M Hitt
    Abstract:

    Recently, the relative demand for Skilled Labor has increased dramatically. We investigate one of the causes, skill-biased technical change. Advances in information technology (IT) are among the most powerful forces bearing on the economy. Employers who use IT often make complementary innovations in their organizations and in the services they offer. Our hypothesis is that these co-inventions by IT users change the mix of skills that employers demand. Specifically, we test the hypothesis that it is a cluster of complementary changes involving IT, workplace organization and services that is the key skill-biased technical change. We examine new firm-level data linking several indicators of IT use, workplace organization, and the demand for Skilled Labor. In both a short-run factor demand framework and a production function framework, we find evidence for complementarity. IT use is complementary to a new workplace organization which includes broader job responsibilities for line workers, more decentralized decision-making, and more self-managing teams. In turn, both IT and that new organization are complements with worker skill, measured in a variety of ways. Further, the managers in our survey believe that IT increases skill requirements and autonomy among workers in their firms. Taken together, the results highlight the roles of both IT and IT-enabled organizational change as important components of the skill-biased technical change.

  • information technology and recent changes in work organization increase the demand for Skilled Labor
    1999
    Co-Authors: Timothy F Bresnahan, Erik Brynjolfsson, Lorin M Hitt
    Abstract:

    Recently, Labor demand has shifted in favor of high-wage, high-skill work, contributing to a substantial rise in income inequality in the United States. We argue that information technology (IT) and associated changes in work organization are important causes of this shift. IT is among the most important technological changes affecting the economy and employers who use IT usually co-invent new approaches to workplace organization and new product and service offerings. IT and the co-inventions together change the mix of skills that employers demand, often substituting computers for low skill work while complementing work that requires certain cognitive and social skills. We show how this creates a four-way complementary system consisting of IT, new work organization, new levels of service quality, and high-skill Labor. Our argument is supported by firm-level data linking several indicators of IT use, workplace organization, and the demand for Skilled Labor. Specifically, we find that IT use is correlated with a new workplace organization that includes broader job responsibilities for line workers, more decentralized decision-making, and more self-managing teams. In turn, both IT and that new organization are correlated with worker skill, measured in a variety of ways. Significantly, we find that firms which attempt to implement only one of the hypothesized complements without the others are less productive than firms which invest in all the complements. Taken together, the results highlight the importance of organizational changes stimulated by IT in the changing demand workers of different types.

Peter Egger - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • international outsourcing and the productivity of low Skilled Labor in the eu
    Social Science Research Network, 2006
    Co-Authors: Hartmut Egger, Peter Egger
    Abstract:

    This article presents first insights into the role of international outsourcing on the productivity of low-Skilled workers in EU manufacturing. Whereas in the short run international outsourcing exhibits a negative marginal effect on real value added per low-Skilled worker, the long-run parameter estimates reveal a positive impact. This may be explained by imperfections in European Labor and goods markets, which prohibit an immediate adjustment in the factor employment and the output structure. The change in the outsourcing intensity since 1993 alone acounts for a long-run increase of about 6.0% in the real value added per low-Skilled worker.

  • international outsourcing and the productivity of low Skilled Labor in the eu
    Economic Inquiry, 2006
    Co-Authors: Hartmut Egger, Peter Egger
    Abstract:

    This article presents first insights into the role of international outsourcing on the productivity of low-Skilled workers in EU manufacturing. Whereas in the short run international outsourcing exhibits a negative marginal effect on real value added per low-Skilled worker, the long-run parameter estimates reveal a positive impact. This may be explained by imperfections in European Labor and goods markets, which prohibit an immediate adjustment in the factor employment and the output structure. The change in the outsourcing intensity since 1993 alone acounts for a long-run increase of about 6.0% in the real value added per low-Skilled worker. (JEL C33, F14, F15)

Jongsoo Lim - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

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