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Computers are even more important than you thought: An Analysis of the changing skill-intensity of jobs

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  • A Felstead
  • D Gallie
  • F Green

Abstract

We investigate the impact of computer usage at work and other job features on the changing skills required of workers. We compare skills utilisation in Britain at three data points: 1986, 1992 and 1997, using responses to identical questions on comparable surveys. We question the validity of investigating the facts about, and the sources of, rising skills by using just educational attainment or occupational grouping data. We re-examine empirical evidence concerning skills trends, using proxies for the level of skills actually used in jobs. We find that: job skills have increased between 1986 and 1997, faster for women than for men; these skills changes are not captured simply by changes in the occupational class structure; the spread of computer usage is very strongly associated with the process of upskilling throughout the period; expanded use of quality circles is also linked to upskilling; evidence for any direct role of trade in inducing skills increases is weak; using the qualification held or occupation as a skills measure can lead to erroneous conclusions as to the origin of skills changes

Suggested Citation

  • A Felstead & D Gallie & F Green, 2000. "Computers are even more important than you thought: An Analysis of the changing skill-intensity of jobs," CEP Discussion Papers dp0439, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0439
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Michael Bittman & Judith E. Brown & Judy Wajcman, 2009. "The mobile phone, perpetual contact and time pressure," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 23(4), pages 673-691, December.
    2. Alan Felstead & Nick Jewson & Annie Phizacklea & Sally Walters, 2001. "Working at Home: Statistical Evidence for Seven Key Hypotheses," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 15(2), pages 215-231, June.
    3. Falk, Martin & Koebel, Bertrand M., 2004. "The impact of office machinery, and computer capital on the demand for heterogeneous labour," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 99-117, February.
    4. Peter Skott, 2006. "Wage inequality and overeducation in a model with efficiency wages," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(1), pages 94-123, February.
    5. Skott, Peter & Auerbach, Paul, 2003. "Wage inequality and skill asymmetries," Economics Discussion Papers 2003-7, School of Economics, Kingston University London.
    6. Paul Auerbach & Peter Skott, "undated". "Skill Asymmetries, Increasing Wage Inequality and Unemployment," Economics Working Papers 2000-18, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    7. Jorge Saba Arbache, 2001. "Trade Liberalisation and Labor Markets in Developing Countries: Theory and Evidence," Studies in Economics 0112, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    8. Roy Green & John Burgess & Grant Turner, 2004. "The ICT Sector, Growth and Productivity: Ireland and Australia Compared," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 15(1), pages 99-127, June.
    9. Handel, Michael J., 2003. "Implications of Information Technology for Employment, Skills, and Wages: A Review of Recent Research," MPRA Paper 80077, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Johanna Melka & Nanno Mulder & Laurence Nayman & Soledad Zignago, 2003. "Skills, Technology and Growth is ICT the Key to Success ? An Analysis of ICT Impact on French Growth," Working Papers 2003-04, CEPII research center.
    11. Francis Green, 2000. "Why has Work Effort become more intense? Conjectures and Evidence about Effort-Biased Technical Change and other stories," Studies in Economics 0003, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    12. Craig de Laine & Patrick Laplagne & Susan Stone, 2001. "The increasing demand for skilled workers in Australia: the role of technical change," Labor and Demography 0105005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Melka, Johanna & Nayman, Laurence, 2005. "L’impact des nouvelles technologies de l’information sur la croissance française, 1980-2001," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 81(1), pages 75-110, Mars-Juin.
    14. G.R. Arabsheibani & J.M. Emami & A. Marin, 2004. "The Impact of Computer Use On Earnings in the UK," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 51(1), pages 82-94, February.

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    Keywords

    Skills; computer; education; training;
    All these keywords.

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