New technology and jobs: comparative evidence from a two country study

It is widely recognised that one of the greatest economic problems facing developed countries is unemployment. An example of this recognition is the recent reports by the OECD ("The OECD Jobs Study", 1994) on unemployment, its causes and possible policies. One issue that is closely associated with unemployment in many people''s minds is competitiveness and associated with that is the use of new technology. Indeed, the OECD Jobs Study plots out the relative importance of ''high-tech'' manufacturing in each member country. This paper aims to contribute to the debate on this issue by examining the impact of the introduction of new technology on employment growth and profitability. We use two complementary datasets: two large representative cross-sections of establishments in Britain in 1990 and Australia in 1989/90. We investigate the effect of innovation in each country and then compare the outcome.