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Does High Technology Polarize the Work Force?

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  • T Klak

    (Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA)

Abstract

The well-known argument that high-technology industry polarizes the work force appears to be an extrapolation primarily from two patterns: The occupational characteristics of the semiconductor industry, and the seeming occupational polarization of the US economy as a whole. The proposition that high-technology industry is responsible for the polarization of work forces is operationalized and statistically assessed in this paper. Operating from a definition of ‘high technology’ used by government agencies, a county-level analysis of the relation between employment in high-technology firms and in various higher-skill and lower-skill occupations reveals only limited empirical support for the ‘high-technology work force polarization’ (hereafter HTWFP) argument. This suggests that generalizations about the occupational impacts of high technology have been overdrawn, and that further research should focus less on extrapolating to the general case and more on examining and comparing a variety of high-technology industries and their relationships to local labor-markets.

Suggested Citation

  • T Klak, 1989. "Does High Technology Polarize the Work Force?," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 7(2), pages 223-241, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:7:y:1989:i:2:p:223-241
    DOI: 10.1068/c070223
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alenka S. Giese & William A. Testa, 1987. "Measuring regional high tech activity with occupational data," Working Paper Series, Regional Economic Issues 1987/1, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    2. Gary W. Loveman & Chris Tilly, 1988. "Good jobs or bad jobs: what does the evidence say?," New England Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue Jan, pages 46-65.
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