Information Technology, Workplace Organization, and the Demand for Skilled Labor: Firm-Level Evidence

2002/02/01 by T. F. Bresnahan, Timothy F. Bresnahan, Erik Brynjolfsson +3 · 72 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Engineering · #Autonomy #Business #Complementarity (molecular biology) #Economic growth #Economics #Function (biology) #ICT Impact and Policies #Industrial organization #Labor demand #Labor market dynamics and wage inequality #Labour economics #Marketing #Microeconomics #Production (economics) #Productivity #Skill mix #Survey data collection #Taxation and Compliance Studies #Technical change #Technological change #Variety (cybernetics) #Wage

paper · open access · doi:10.1162/003355302753399526

published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics 117(1), 339-376 (Oxford University Press)

openalex publication_date 2002/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

We investigate the hypothesis that the combination of three related innovations—1) information technology (IT), 2) complementary workplace reorganization, and 3) new products and services—constitute a significant skill-biased technical change affecting labor demand in the United States. Using detailed firm-level data, we find evidence of complementarities among all three of these innovations in factor demand and productivity regressions. In addition, firms that adopt these innovations tend to use more skilled labor. The effects of IT on labor demand are greater when IT is combined with the particular organizational investments we identify, highlighting the importance of IT-enabled organizational change.

Citations

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