Workers, Wages, and Technology

Abstract

This paper documents how plant-level wages, occupational mix, workforce education, and productivity vary with the adoption and use of new factory automation technologies such as programmable controllers, computer-automated design, and numerically controlled machines. Our cross-sectional results show that plants that use a large number of new technologies employ more educated workers, employ relatively more managers, professionals, and precision-craft workers, and pay higher wages. However, our longitudinal analysis shows little correlation between skill upgrading and the adoption of new technologies. It appears that plants that adopt new factory automation technologies have more skilled workforces both pre- and postadoption.