the computer evolution

MariettaEcon.

The use of computers has had a great impact on the workforce of the world. “In this article the writer used research from five surveys, covering the period of 1984 to 2001, to examine two key aspects of the computer evolution: The spread of PC’s at work and the evolving wage differentials between individuals who use them and those who do not.” The article drew connections between a college education and the use of computers at the workplace. I also found it interesting that the wage gap have not gotten smaller between people who use computer in their jobs and those where computer usage is not required. In today’s world I find it hard to believe that a computer would make a difference in someone salary. I feel that most people posses the necessary computer skills to perform simple task drawing on knowledge from using their own personal computer. I also found it interesting that the article leads the reader to believe that just because you have a college degree means you are skilled in using a computer. College education and computers leads to one of the underlining economic principles of this article. A worker will now how to be weigh the marginal benefits and marginal cost of having a college education. The marginal benefits of having a college degree means you can have a job that requires computer usage which will ultimately lead you to be paid more, the marginal costs are the cost of college and the lost wages you could have earned doing a that didn’t require computer skills.
This article posted some very interesting numbers and I was glad to learn that my computer skills will come in handy at my future employer.

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2004/el2004-19.html