skip to main content
article
Free Access

Computers and employment

Published:01 July 1972Publication History
Skip Abstract Section

Abstract

The relationship of computers and automation to employment is part of the more general relation of technological change to employment. The most obvious effect is that increases in productivity due to technology can eliminate jobs. Technology affects the individual worker, in the nature and amount of his work, and in his attitudes toward that work. Technological change affects the occupational structure of the entire labor force. Because of the central importance of these effects, the impact of technology has been the subject of extensive study by economists, sociologists, political scientists, and psychologists. Even within a single discipline, studies are often contradictory, and conclusions are colored by political overtones. We wish to delineate some of the issues, and present arguments given to support different viewpoints.

References

  1. 1 Armer, Paul. The individual: His privacy, self-image and obsolescence. Proc. eleventh meeting of the Panel on Science and Technology, "Science and Astronautics," U.S. House of Representatives. U.S. Gov. Print. Off., Jan. 27-29, 1970, p. 129.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  2. 2 Barkin, S. (Ed.) Impact of office automation in a government service (USA). in Technical Changes and Manpower Planning, OECD, Paris, 1967, pp. 257-268.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  3. 3 Blauner, R. Alienation and Freedom. U. of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1964,Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  4. 4 Bright, J.R. The impact of automation in the work force. In Automation and Management, Grad. School of Bus. Admin., Harvard U., Cambridge, Mass., 1958, Chap. 12, pp. 170-188.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  5. 5 Computers in Offices. Manpower Studies No. 4, Ministry of Labour, Great Britain, WMSO, London, 1965.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  6. 6 Crossman, E.R.F.W., and Laner, S. The impact of technological change on manpower and skill demand: Case-study and policy implications. Dep. of lnd. Eng. and Oper. Res., U. of California, Berkeley, Calif., 1969.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  7. 7 Dalton, Gene, and Thompson, Paul. Accelerating obsolescence of of older engineers. Harvard Bus. Rev. (Nov. 1970).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  8. 8 Diebold, John. The nature of computers and automation. In The New Technology and Human Values, Burke, J. (Ed.), Wadsworth Pub. Co., Belmont, Calif., 1966, pp. 109-118.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  9. 9 Elizur, D. Adapting to Innovation. Jerusalem Academic Press, Jerusalem, Israel, 1970.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  10. 10 Faunce, W.A. Automation and the division of labor. Social Problems 13 (Fall 1965), 149-160.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  11. 11 Gilpatrick, Eleanor. On the classification of unemployment: A view of the structural-inadequate demand debate. Ind. and Labor Relations Rev. 19 (1965-66).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  12. 12 Gruenfeld, L.W., and Folman, F.F. Relationship among supervisors' integration, satisfaction, and acceptance of a technological change. J. Appl. Psychology 51, 1 (1967), 74-77.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  13. 13 Helfgott, Roy. EDP and the office work force, btd. and Labor Relations Rev. 19 (July 1966).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  14. 14 Hoos, Ida. When the computer takes over the office. Harvard Bus. Rev. (1960).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  15. 15 Impact of office automation in the insurance industry. U.S. Gov. Print. Off. Bull. 1468, Washington, D.C.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  16. 16 Jaffe, A.G., and Fromkin, G. Technology and Jobs: Autor, tation in Perspective. Praeger, New York, 1968.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  17. 17 Kruse, J. Comparative manning practices in data processing installations. In Manpower Aspects of Automation and Technological Change (European conf., 1966, Suppl. to Final Rep.), OECD Pubs., Paris, 1966.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  18. 18 Labour and Automation, Bulletins 1-7. International Labour Office, Geneva, 1964-68.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  19. 19 Manpower Report of the President. U.S. Dep. of Labor, Washington, D.C., Apr. 1971 and Mar. 1972.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  20. 20 Mansfield, E. The Economics of Technical Change. Norton, New York, 1968.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  21. 21 Shepard, Jon M. Automation and Alienation, A Study of Office and Factory Workers. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1971.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  22. 22 Silberman, Charles. The Myths of Automation. Harper & Row, New York, 1966.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  23. 23 Simon, H.A. The Shape of Automation. Harper & Row, New York, 1965.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  24. 24 Stoikov, Vladimir. Increasing structural unemployment reexamined, hd. and Labor Relations Rev. 19, (1965-66).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  25. 25 Technology and the American economy. Rep. of Nat. Commission on Technology, Automation, and Economic Progress, Vol. 1. U.S. Gov. Print. Off., Washington, D.C., Feb. 1966.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  26. 26 Urvoy, J. A tentative interpretation of a number of case-studies of firms and industries using office computers. In Manpower Aspects of Automation and Technological Change (European conf., 1966, Suppl. to Final Rep.), OECD Pubs., Paris, 1966.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  27. 27 Wiener, N. The Human Use of Human Beings. Houghton-Mifflin, Boston, 1950.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar

Index Terms

  1. Computers and employment
    Index terms have been assigned to the content through auto-classification.

    Recommendations

    Comments

    Login options

    Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

    Sign in

    Full Access

    • Published in

      cover image Communications of the ACM
      Communications of the ACM  Volume 15, Issue 7
      July 1972
      209 pages
      ISSN:0001-0782
      EISSN:1557-7317
      DOI:10.1145/361454
      Issue’s Table of Contents

      Copyright © 1972 ACM

      Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

      Publisher

      Association for Computing Machinery

      New York, NY, United States

      Publication History

      • Published: 1 July 1972

      Permissions

      Request permissions about this article.

      Request Permissions

      Check for updates

      Qualifiers

      • article

    PDF Format

    View or Download as a PDF file.

    PDF

    eReader

    View online with eReader.

    eReader