The Effect of Computer Use on Work Discretion and Work Intensity: Evidence from Europe

Abstract

This article studies changes in computer use and work discretion and intensity in the EU-15 between 1995 and 2015. We document that while the proportion of workers using computers has increased from 40 per cent to more than 60 per cent, there remain significant differences between countries even within the same occupations. Several countries have seen a significant increase in computer use even in low-skilled occupations generally assumed to be less affected by technology. Overall, the great increase in computer use between 1995 and 2015 coincided with a period of modest deterioration of job quality in the EU-15 as a whole, as work discretion declined for most occupational and educational groups, while work intensity increased slightly for most of them. Our OLS results exploiting variation within country-occupation cells point to a sizeable positive effect of computer use on work discretion, but to no effect on work intensity. Our instrumental variable estimates point to an even more benign effect of computer use on job quality as measured by work discretion and work intensity. Hence, the results suggest that the (moderate) deterioration in the quality of work observed in the EU-15 between 1995 and 2015 has occurred despite the spread of computers, rather than because of them.

Working Still Harder

“…The large majority of British workers (89% in 2017) make some use of computers or automated equipment in their jobs. Our finding contrasts with that of Menon et al (2019), who reported insignificant computer effects on work intensity except for among routine cognitive occupations. This difference may have arisen from both methodological and data differences, including that their study combines two dichotomous indicators to measure work intensity, uses a dichotomous indicator of computer use, and focuses on Europe as a whole.…”

“…Bittman, Brown, and Wajcman (2009) found that mobile phones at work intensified the work of men, though not of women, in a sample of Australian workers. By contrast, Menon, Salvatori, and Zwysen (2019) found only small effects in a pan-European Union study. Taken together, these studies do not establish that growing ICT use alone has a large enough effect to explain the observed widespread extent of work intensification.…”

Does Robotization Affect Job Quality? Evidence from European Regional Labour Markets

“…In other words, the increase in robots between 1995 and 2005 from .8 2.1 per thousand workers led to an increase in work intensity of 5.6 7.3 points (87 114 percent of a standard deviation in 2000). These eects are rather large, but comparable to those of Menon et al (2019) in size: They calculate the eect of computers on working conditions in the European Union; they nd negative but insignicant coecients for the impact of computer use on work intensity, but a positive impact of computer use on work quality in terms of work discretion.…”

“…-Macías et al[2015],Green et al [2013],Menon et al [2019], and Muñoz deBustillo et al, 2011). We formulate indicators in such a way, that all questions are available in the three waves of the survey.The index of quality of work intensity comprises two sub-dimensions, quantitative demands and pace determinants and interdependency.…”

Unions, technology, social-class, and earnings inequality in the US, 1984-2019

“…Starting with the early work of Braverman (1974), socio-economic research has suggested that technologies lead to higher monitoring, lower skill requirements, and more precise tasks specification, and especially so for lower-skilled workers whose tasks do not require expert knowledge and creative thinking (Hunter & Lafkas, 2003;Menon et al, 2019). The growth in usage of ICT technologies since the 1970s has had the potential to reduce the autonomy and control over the work process of lower-level employees, therefore tempering their wage growth.…”