NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Wiring the Labor Market

David Autor

NBER Working Paper No. 7959*
Issued in October 2000
NBER Program(s):   LS

Workers and jobs are naturally heterogeneous and the quality of their interaction when paired is difficult to forecast. The Internet promises to open new channels for worker-firm communications. What are the consequences of this opening? I discuss three labor market features that may be altered: how worker-firm matches are made; how labor services are delivered; and how local markets shape labor demand. Theory predicts these developments will produce social benefits. But the gains are unlikely to be uniform and realizing them will generate novel problems. One result may be the formation of new institutions to address issues accompanying these opportunities.

*Published: Autor, David H. "Wiring The Labor Market," Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2001, v15(1,Winter), 25-40.

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