JOHN GLENN WORKING PAPER SERIES Do High Technology Policies Work? An Analysis of High Technology Industry Employment Growth in U.S. Metropolitan Areas, 1988-1998 (original) (raw)

High tech, basic industry, and the future of the american economy

Human Resource Management, 1984

A growing number of economists, public policy analysts, and government oflcials have heralded a transformation said to be occurn'ng in the American economy. The Americnn-in-tramjbrmation thesis hlds that new high-tech infiwmah-oriented industries are replacing basic industries as the primary source of America's economic stability and growth. This thesis, the authors pint out, omtates the extent of the changes which are taking place. According to the best available projections, basic industries will continue to be an important sector of the American economy. Further, basic industries will m e as markets for high-tech products and seruices as they modernize their operations. Both sectors of the economy will be needed to sustain an integrated, two-track economy.

Geographic Determinants of Hi-Tech Employment Growth in US Counties

ERSA conference papers, 2011

This paper examines the spatial pattern of US county employment growth in high-tech industries. The spatial growth dimensions examined include industry cluster effects, urbanization effects, proximity to a college, and proximity in the urban hierarchy. Growth is examined for overall high-tech employment and for employment in various high-tech sectors. Econometric analyses are conducted for a sample of all counties and for metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties separately. Among our primary findings, we ...

High-Tech Industries in California: Panacea or Problem?

University of California Institute For Labor and Employment, 2001

Since the mid-1990s, the California economy has been growing at a rate rivaled only by the strong growth associated with the military buildups of the mid-1980s. Since 1996, growth in state personal income has exceeded 4 percent annually (adjusting for inflation) and reached nearly 5.5 percent during 1999. In addition, the current state unemployment rate, hovering around five percent, is at its lowest level in three decades. Many observers believe that employment growth in high-tech industries, such as computer services and telecommunications, is a major force responsible for the state's current good fortune and that job growth in these industries is the future of the California economy. Industry proponents point to the high wages of this sector and speculate that as the high-tech sector expands, wages will increase rapidly. Such sentiments are similar to arguments heard in the 1980s about the growth effects attributed to hightech industries, which were fueled by federal military contracts. During the mid-1980s defense build-up under the Reagan Administration, California's defense-related industries grew rapidly and were responsible in part for a strong recovery from the deep 1982 recession. In 1984 real personal income grew at an annual rate of over 8 percent. Moreover, the 1984 unemployment rate (7.8 percent) had declined nearly two full percentage points from the previous year. This chapter compares and contrasts the employment and wages in California's high-tech industries during these two important periods. Specifically, we analyze the employment and earnings patterns among high-tech firms for two years, 1984 and 1999. Both years represent periods of strong growth, when key high-tech industries were expanding rapidly. In addition, in both years, high-tech employment accounts for similar proportions of the state's jobs base. At this point, however, the similarities cease. The current composition of high-tech employment is dramatically different from the composition of high-tech employment during the 1980s. Moreover, we have observed substantial changes in the education requirements of high-tech employers, the racial and ethnic composition of their workforce, and weekly earnings. We compare these two periods when high-tech industries were strong in California in order to ask if high-tech industries are a panacea for the California economy or if high-tech industries present special problems. In order to answer this question, we must first know: • How important has employment in high-tech been for California's workers over the past fifteen years? • What types of workers, in terms of education and skills, are hired and what are their earnings in high-tech industries? How well do different racial and ethnic groups do in high-tech industries? • How do wages and employment in California's high-tech industries compare to other industries? What is the rate of unionization in high-tech industries compared to other industries?