Tim Bresnahan, Erik Brynjolfsson, Lorin M. Hitt
28. Bresnahan, Timothy, Brynjolfsson, Erik and Lorin M. Hitt (2002). "Information Technology, Workplace Organization and the Demand for Skilled Labor: Firm-level Evidence," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117(1): 339-376
Publication year: 2002
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 one or more of 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.
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