Technology and Employment Innovation and Growth in the U.S. Economy (1987) / Chapter Skim
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8: The Quality of Data on Technological Change, Its Employment Effects, and Adjustment Mechanisms
8: The Quality of Data on Technological Change, Its Employment Effects, and Adjustment Mechanisms
Pages 160-167
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From page 160... ...
In addition, we briefly discuss potential improvements in the evaluation of programs to aid worker adjustment to technological change. The broader issue is an important one; although data do not drive the policy formation process, their absence surely leaves this process less informed, less effective, and potentially counterproductive.
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From page 161... ...
Data on the aggregate economic impact of technological change in manufacturing are sparse, and their quality may be declining, due in part to reductions in federal programs of data collection and analysis. Spending under the fiscal year 1987 budget for several key federal statistical agencies has been stagnant or has declined In real terms since fiscal year 1980 (Slater, 19861.~ Budget cutbacks have produced significant deterioration in data on innovation and economic change in several specific programs.
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From page 162... ...
Such a policy also might require coordination and agreement among federal statistical agencies on the specific topics of interest in a coordinated data collection and publication effort. Another deficiency in our knowledge stems from the fact that data on technological change within the United States cover only the generation of new technology.
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From page 163... ...
2) The deficiencies in the data on service sector output, employment, and productivity to say nothing of technological change in this sector of the economy (see National Research Council, Committee on National Statistics, 1986Ware such that there is genuine uncertainty as to whether the apparent productivity slowdown of the past decade is significant or whether it reflects increasing problems in measuring service sector productivity growth outside of manufacturing.
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From page 164... ...
421. Another crucial data deficiency stems from the fact that technological change in most cases involves substituting capital for labor.
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From page 165... ...
The survey of workers we propose would be more rigorous than that in the Mueller team's study; it would attempt to resurvey respondents at regular intervals to track changes in the workplace resulting from the use of new technologies and to trace the employment and skill effects of technological change on individuals. The survey also would include a matched sample of employers and workers for a subset of the worker population, an addition that allows tests for biases in the survey responses and supports further analyses of technology's impacts on workers.
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From page 166... ...
INFORMATION ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF WORKER ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS The panel's charge called for an evaluation of adjustment assistance programs for workers displaced by technological change. Such an evaluation is difficult, however, in view of the embryonic state of research and knowledge concerning program design and effectiveness in retraining for displaced workers.
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From page 167... ...
For example, the evaluation of federal adjustment programs might be shared by the Department of Labor with another agency or outside advisory panel, and a similar procedure could be used by the Department of Education in evaluating the Perkins Act. The Advisory Panel on Job Training Longitudinal Survey Research recommended that the "research process should be monitored by a firm or group with no ax to grind in order to assure adherence to DOL's [the Department of Labor's]
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