Office technology indicates economic vitality
Office jobs might be lost, but specialization suggests larger gains
According to a new study, computers in the office workplace may eliminate a few jobs, but the employees who remain and adapt see higher wages and more job security. (Shutterstock)
By Ted Cox
Computers in the office workplace might lead to a few lost jobs, but the increased productivity leads to higher wages for those who remain and a more robust economic environment overall, according to a new study conducted by the University of Illinois.
The paper, “Computerization of White Collar Jobs,” was written by Eliza Forsythe, a professor of labor and employment relations and of economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, along with Marcus Dillender of the University of Illinois at Chicago. They studied 8 million job advertisements from 2007 and from 2010 through 2016 with an eye toward examining “how firms change job requirements as they adopt new technology,” according to a release put out Thursday by the Illinois News Bureau.
As with automation in other fields, computers tend to increase productivity at the cost of a few positions, the study finds. But the increased demands put on the employees who remain and the additional expertise required also tend to hike wages and job security for the employees who adapt.
“There’s a lot of concern about automation eliminating jobs, especially in manufacturing,” Forsythe said. “But new technologies affect a wide variety of jobs, and in this case we find a more nuanced story, with some broader positive effects despite job losses.”
The study points out that “office support workers make up more than 12 percent of the labor force, a larger share than manufacturing,” according to the release. It also emphasizes that these office jobs tend to be held by women.
Forsythe pointed out how office work has changed since the days of typewriters and stenographers. “There was the ‘Mad Men’ era when you had an office full of secretaries answering phones, taking dictation, and performing other secretarial tasks,” she said. “Now you have one or two people trying to cover all those same traditional office support tasks — but they also use Excel and QuickBooks, and perform human-resources, management, or accounting tasks as well.”
The changes in job notices and requirements observed over the years indicate that “as jobs adopt more technology, employers ask for more experience, more college education, more cognitive skills,” Forsythe said.
It’s a trend running through the economy, as recent studies have found that increasingly skilled workers are claiming jobs — especially in urban centers — to the detriment of those with less education or training, which in turn contributes to income inequality.
According to the release, “Forsythe found that technological change led to faster wage growth for (the workers who remain) and that increased productivity also leads to benefits for the local economy.”
The paper finds that technology in the workplace also indicates overall economic vitality, with new jobs created. “These changes ultimately lead to more job growth in the local economy,” according to the release, “although they offer mixed benefits for the office support workers themselves.”
“We find that the locations where firms introduced more technology in office support jobs saw increased employment growth, which is driven by growth in exactly the white-collar jobs that these office support workers support,” Forsythe said. “Office work is becoming higher skilled and less routine, and the more tasks it encompasses, the less at risk it will be from further automation.”
It’s a trade-off, the paper says, with technology eliminating jobs by about 1 percentage point, but with increased wages for college graduates in office support positions by over 3 percent.
“These results are consistent with technological adoption inducing a realignment in task assignment across occupations, lending office support occupations to become higher skill and hence less at risk from further automation,” the paper states. But again it warns of inequality, saying, “In addition, we find that total employment and wages per population increase with technological adoption, indicating average gains from computerization that are unequally distributed across the labor market.”