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IT-Labor Intensities and Firm-Level Productivity
Abstract
The continued growth in US productivity which began in the mid-1990’s and continues today, attracted the attention of economists and analysts who conducted empirical studies to identify the fundamental underpinnings behind this noteworthy trend. The results of these works largely attributed this new productivity pulse to investment and utilization of new forms of technologies, largely classified as information technologies. The incredible increases in economic growth from 1995 to 2000 had involved significant investment in information technologies including, hardware, software, and telecommunications, as companies augmented existing business processes with the purpose of increasing productivity, profitability and market share. This investment resulted in a more technologically intensive corporate infrastructure which quickly changed the required activities of the corresponding organizational labor force as firms were increasingly dependent on employees who possessed hi-tech intensive skills. The new corporate labor force increasingly required a combination of IT employees; individuals who could develop and implement software applications and build and maintain IT networks, along with existing less IT skilled employees. In order to extract the fullest productivity potential from newly acquired technologies, firms were required to incorporate an employee base that included an appropriate balance between IT skilled and non-IT skilled workers.
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