Computers, skills and wages

Unions, Wages, and Skills

Studies uniformly conclude that union wage effects are largest for work­ ers with low measured skills. Longitudinal analysis using 19891901994195 Current Population Survey matched panels produces union pre­ mium estimates equivalent across skill groups, following appropriate sam­ ple restrictions and control for worker-specific skills. Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth on ...

Noncognitive Skills, Occupational Attainment, and Relative Wages∗

This paper examines whether men’s and women’s noncognitive skills influence their occupational attainment and, if so, whether this contributes to the disparity in their relative wages. We find that noncognitive skills have a substantial effect on the probability of employment in many, though not all, occupations in ways that differ by gender. Consequently, men and women with similar noncognitiv...

Are computers driving real wages down?

The annual growth in mean employee compensation plummeted from 2.6% in 1947–73 to 0.4% in 1973–2003. Using both time-series regression and pooled, cross-section, time-series regression analysis for 44 industries over the period 1953–2000, we find that earnings growth is positively related to overall productivity growth, capital investment excluding computers, and the unionization rate. We find ...

Computers, Fax Machines and Wages in Canada: What Really Matters?

The Diffusion of Computers and the Distribution of Wages

Abstract This paper offers a theoretical model of the adoption and diffusion of computers at work to analyze between-group and within-group wage inequality, inspired by the empirical observation that the composition of the group of workers using a computer changes over time and that the timing of the rise in between-group and within-group wage inequality is different. The model conjectures that...