TY  - JOUR
AU  - Autor,David H.
AU  - Levy,Frank
AU  - Murnane,Richard J.
TI  - The Skill Content of Recent Technological Change: An Empirical Exploration
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 8337
PY  - 2001
Y2  - June 2001
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8337
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8337.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
David Autor
Department of Economics
MIT, E52-371
50 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA 02142-1347
Tel: 617/258-7698
Fax: 617/253-1330
E-Mail: dautor@mit.edu

Frank Levy
Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning
Building 9-523
MIT
Cambridge, MA 02139
E-Mail: flevy@mit.edu

Richard Murnane
Graduate School of Education
Harvard University
6 Appian Way - Gutman 469
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/496-4820
Fax: 617/496-3095
E-Mail: richard_murnane@harvard.edu
AB  - We apply an understanding of what computers do -- the execution of procedural or rules-based logic -- to study how computer technology alters job skill demands. We contend that computer capital (1) substitutes for a limited and well-defined set of human activities, those involving routine (repetitive) cognitive and manual tasks; and (2) complements activities involving non-routine problem solving and interactive tasks. Provided these tasks are imperfect substitutes, our model implies measurable changes in the task content of employment, which we explore using representative data on job task requirements over 1960 -- 1998. Computerization is associated with declining relative industry demand for routine manual and cognitive tasks and increased relative demand for non-routine cognitive tasks. Shifts are evident within detailed industries, within detailed occupations, and within education groups within industries. Translating observed task shifts into educational demands, the sum of within-industry and within-occupation task changes explains thirty to forty percent of the observed relative demand shift favoring college versus non-college labor during 1970 to 1998, with the largest impact felt after 1980. Changes in task content within nominally identical occupations explain more than half of the overall demand shift induced by computerization.
ER  -