This study investigates the impact of the spread of numerically controlled machine tools on the average skill level of workers in the nonelectrical machinery industry in the United States. Analyzing data from the Industry Wage Surveys of Machinery Manufacturers to trace changes in the skill levels of 57 machining jobs, the author finds that 30 years of the spread of numerically controlled machine tools has resulted in either a very small (1%) reduction in skill levels or no significant change at all, depending on the measure of skill change used. This result supports neither the position of the “post-industrialists,” who have argued that this new technology raises overall machine shop skill levels, nor the position of “labor process” theorists, who have argued that it results in deskilling.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdlerPaul, and BorysBryan. 1986. “Automation and Work: The Machine Tool Case.” Stanford University Working Paper.
2.
ArmstrongPeter. 1988. “Labour and Monopoly Capital.” In HymanR. and StreeckW., eds., New Technology and Industrial Relations. London: Basil Blackwell.
3.
AttewellPaul. 1987. “The De-skilling Controversy.”Work and Occupations, Vol. 14, pp. 323–46.
4.
BarleyStephen R.1988. “Technology, Power, and the Social Organization of Work.” In BacharachS. and Di TomasoN., eds., Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 6. Greenwich, Conn., JAI Press, pp. 33–80.
5.
BaronJames N., and BielbyWilliam T.. 1982. “Workers and Machines: Dimensions and Determinants of Technical Relations in the Workplace.”American Sociological Review, Vol. 47, pp. 175–88.
6.
BeckerGary. 1964. Human Capital, 2nd ed.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
7.
BellDaniel. 1973. The Coming of Post-Industrial Society. New York: Basic Books.
8.
BlaunerRobert. 1964. Alienation and Freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
9.
BravermanHarry. 1974. Labor and Monopoly Capital. New York: Monthly Review Press.
10.
CainPamela, and TreimanDonald. 1981. “The Dictionary of Occupational Titles as a Source of Occupational Data.”American Sociological Review, Vol. 46, pp. 253–78.
FaunceWilliam A.1965. “Automation and the Division of Labor.”Social Problems, Vol. 13, pp. 149–60.
16.
FormWilliam. 1987. “On the Degradation of Skills.”Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 13, pp. 29–47.
17.
GordonDavidEdwardsRichard, and ReichMichael. 1982. Segmented Work, Divided Workers. New York: Cambridge University Press.
18.
HamermeshDaniel. 1984. The Demand for Labor in the Long Run. NBER Working Paper No. 1297. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research. Cambridge.
19.
HamermeshDaniel, and GrantJames. 1979. “Econometric Studies of Labor-Labor Substitution and Their Implications for Policy.”Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 14, pp. 518–42.
20.
HazlehurstR. J.BradburyR. J., and CorlettE. N.. 1969. “A Comparison of the Skills of Machinists on Numerically-Controlled and Conventional Machines.”Occupational Psychology, Vol. 43, pp. 169–82.
21.
HicksDonald. 1986. Automation Technology and Industrial Renewal. Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute.
22.
HirschhornLarry. 1984. Beyond Mechanization. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
23.
HorowitzMorris, and HerrnstadtIrwin. 1966. “Changes in Skill Requirements of Occupations in Selected Industries.” In National Commission on Technology, Automation, and Economic Progress, The Economic Impact of Technological Change, Appendix, Vol. 2 to Technology and the American Economy. Washington, D.C.: GPO, pp. 223–87.
24.
JeromeHarry. 1934. Mechanization in Industry. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.
25.
KallebergArne, and LeichtKevin. 1986. “Jobs and Skills: A Multivariate Structural Approach.”Social Science Research, Vol. 15, pp. 269–96.
26.
KelleyMaryellen. 1988. “Skill Dimensionality and Specialization: A Conceptual Model for the Analysis of Automation, Job Skills and Internal Labor Market Structures.” Working Paper, University of Massachusetts.
27.
KelleyMaryellen R., and BrooksHarvey. 1988. The State of Computerized Automation in U.S. Manufacturing. Cambridge, Mass.: Center for Business and Government, Harvard University.
28.
KerrClark1964. Industrialism and Industrial Man. New York: Oxford University Press.
29.
KohnMelvin, and SchoolerCarmi. 1983. Work and Personality. Norwood, N.J.: Albex.
30.
MillerAnnTreimenDonaldCainPamela, and RoosPatricia. 1980. Work, Jobs, and Occupations. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
31.
MundalkYair. 1978. “On the Pooling of Time Series and Cross Section Data.”Econometrica, Vol. 46, pp. 69–85.
32.
National Academy of Engineering. 1983. The Competitive Status of the U.S. Machine Tool Industry. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
33.
NobleDavid F.1984. Forces of Production. New York: Oxford University Press.
34.
NultyLeslie. 1982. “Case Studies of IAM Local Experiences with the Introduction of New Technologies.” In KennedyDonaldCraypoCharles, and LehmanMary, eds., Labor and Technology, pp. 115–39. Department of Labor Studies, Pennsylvania State University.
35.
PioreMichael, and SabelCharles. 1984. The Second Industrial Divide. New York: Basic Books.
36.
RayGeorge F.1984. The Diffusion of Mature Technologies. New York: Cambridge University Press.
37.
RosenthalNeal. 1982. “Shortage of Skilled Machinists: An Evaluation of the Information.”Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 105, No. 7, pp. 31–36.
38.
RumbergerRussell. 1981. “The Changing Skill Requirements of Jobs in the U.S. Economy.”Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 34, pp. 578–90.
39.
SabelCharles. 1982. Work and Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
40.
ShaikenHarley. 1984. Work Transformed. New York: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston.
41.
ShaikenHarleyHerzenbergStephen, and KuhnSarah. 1984. “Automation and the Workplace: Case Studies on the Introduction of Programmable Automation in Manufacturing Work Environment Effects: Summary.” In Office of Technology Assessment, Computerized Manufacturing Automation, Working Papers, Vol. 2, pp. 1–66.
42.
SpennerKenneth. 1983. “Deciphering Prometheus: Temporal Change in the Skill Level of Work.”American Sociological Review, Vol. 48, pp. 824–37.
43.
SpennerKenneth. 1979. “Temporal Changes in Work Content.”American Sociological Review, Vol. 44, pp. 968–75.
44.
U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee. 1984. New Technology in the American Machinery Industry. Washington, D.C.: GPO.
45.
U.S. Congress, Office of Technological Assessment. 1984. Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace. Washington, D.C.: OTA-CIT-235, April.
46.
U.S. Department of Commerce. Various years. Census of Manufactures.
47.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Industry Analysis Division. 1984. A Competitive Assessment of the U.S. Manufacturing Automation Equipment Industries. Washington, D.C.: International Trade Administration.
48.
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1985. Industry Wage Survey: Machinery Manufacturing, November 1983. Bulletin 2229.
49.
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1982. Industry Wage Survey: Machinery Manufacturing, January 1981. Bulletin 21245.
50.
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1977. Industry Wage Survey: Machinery Manufacturing, Winter 1974–1975. Bulletin 1929.
51.
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1982. Technology and Labor in Four Industries. Bulletin 2104.
52.
U.S. Department of Labor, Manpower Administration. 1972. Handbook for Analyzing Jobs. Washington, D.C.: GPO.
53.
U.S. Department of Labor, Manpower Administration. 1977. Dictionary of Occupational Titles, 4th ed.Washington, D.C.: GPO.
54.
WallaceMichael, and KallebergArne L.. 1982. “Industrial Transformation and the Decline of Craft: The Decomposition of Skill in the Printing Industry, 1931–1978.”American Sociological Review, Vol. 47, pp. 307–24.
55.
WilkinsonBarry. 1983. The Shopfloor Politics of New Technology. London: Heinemann Educational Books.
56.
ZuboffShoshana. 1988. In the Age of the Smart Machine. New York: Basic Books.
