Have Computers Changes the New Zealand Wage Structure? Evidence From Data on Training

Abstract

One of the reasons why inequality in earnings may have widened in recent years is due to technological changes, which include the wider use of computers within the workplace. Partly as a result, the current Government is keen on encouraging people to obtain the computer skills required to enable them to be part of the modern economy. A number of international studies have shown that workers who use a computer at work earn more than workers who do not. While large-scale survey data on wages and computer use in New Zealand are unavailable it is possible to examine the effect on wages of receiving computer-related training. The results from the 1996 Education and Training Survey suggest that there is a significant effect on wages for those workers who received some form of computer training. These effects persist even when controlling for occupation and industry, and they exceed the wage effects of training in other subjects.