Chapter 23

Who Uses Computers and In What Ways: Effects on Earnings Distribution
M. Gittleman (U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics) & M. Handel (University of Wisconsin.

As earnings inequality began to rise in the United States and other industrialized economies in the 1980s, many economists saw the microcomputer as a likely driving force behind this trend, both because computer use spread rapidly during this decade and because of a perception that the introduction of computers leads to skill-biased technological change, shifting demand for labor toward more skilled workers and thus bidding up their relative wages. This chapter assesses the evidence for this view.