Labour market effects of new technology

Abstract

The labour market effects of modern technology are a constant source of scientific and public debate. Since new technology can produce different employment effects at various levels in the economy, a research framework which takes these complexities into account is required. The ‘Meta Study’-labour market impacts of new technologies-has been carried out on the introduction and use of modern technology in West Germany, and applied various methods to investigate the direct and indirect employment effects of new technologies at different levels of the economy. The methods employed by the participating research institutes (see Appendix) ranged from detailed enterprise-level case-studies to the use of highly aggregated economic macro models. Particular attention was therefore given to the integration of micro information into a macroeconomic context. This article presents some results of the ‘Meta Study’ and concentrates on quantitative employment effects, changing skill requirements and adjustment processes in the labour market.