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Labor Markets and the Process of Income Attainment in the Multimedia Age
Author(s) -
Ono Hiroshi
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
international journal of japanese sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.133
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1475-6781
pISSN - 0918-7545
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6781.1996.tb00033.x
Subject(s) - premise , endowment , information literacy , literacy , information age , educational attainment , computer literacy , labour economics , economics , function (biology) , business , marketing , sociology , economic growth , psychology , political science , pedagogy , mathematics education , economy , philosophy , linguistics , evolutionary biology , law , biology
This paper examines several foreseeable scenarios about the effects of information technology on the labor market and the process of individual's income attainment. While I do not intend to exclude other factors, I argue that computer literacy and information literacy are two distinct but complimentary factors, and that they will be the two critical issues in determining the productive capacities of workers in the multimedia age. I view information literacy as a firm‐specific skill, and argue that it will be the key factor in determining the production function of workers within the firm. Computer literacy is viewed as the endowment of information literacy skills. Workers with higher levels of computer literacy will be at an advantage at the time of labor market entry. Further, such workers are more likely to have higher rates of return on firm's investments in information literacy skills. thereby yielding higher productions. Based on the premise that information technology and labor are complementary components which should reveal an increase in the demand for higher skilled workers, I suggest that income differences are likely to widen along the lines of educational attainment and establishment‐size. The “Implications” section (V) of the paper examines several issues for further research in this incipient field of sociology.