A Portrait of the Relationship between Mechanization and Work in the U.S. Economy in 1980

Debates over the effects of technological change on work continue to generate a wide and confusing array of findings. One reason for the lack of consensus is that empirical research based on large samples has yet to adequately address the core issue: the relationship, if any, between the level of mechanization and the characteristics of work. This relationship is explored using data from the 1980 Census of Population to link measures of the level of mechanization with measures of work characteristics for manufacturing industries. The results are mixed; work characteristics in more mechanized industries compared to less mechanized industries are higher in some dimensions and lower in others. A path model approach allows aggregation of these mixed results. Using wages as a yardstick, and controlling for other determinants of wages, we find that the work characteristics of more mechanized industries are upgraded in the aggregate, compared to those in less mechanized industries. Debates over the effects of technological change on work continue to generate a wide and confusing array of findings. One reason for the lack of consensus is that empirical research based on large samples has yet to adequately address the core issue: the relationship, if any, between the level of mechanization and the characteristics of work. This relationship is explored using data from the 1980 Census of Population to link measures of the level of mechanization with measures of work characteristics for manufacturing industries. The results are mixed; work characteristics in more mechanized industries compared to less mechanized industries are higher in some dimensions and lower in others. A path model approach allows aggregation of these mixed results. Using wages as a yardstick, and controlling for other determinants of wages, we find that the work characteristics of more mechanized industries are upgraded in the aggregate, compared to those in less mechanized industries. Studies of the evolution of work in the face of technological change have generated a wide and confusing array of findings. Debates continue over how the historical trend toward mechanization has affected work-or indeed whether any discernible relationship exists at all. Our approach is to examine what are the effects of mechanization on work; the question of whether there are such (strong) effects is treated as the null hypothesis. Of those who hypothesize strong influences of mechanization, some argue that political forces have led managers to use new technologies to " deskill " workers (Braverman, 1974; …