ECON 3
Fall 1998
Chico State University

COMPUTER USERS EARN MORE

The San Francisco Chronicle
9/3/96

    If there is one skill these days that leads directly to success both
on and off the job, it's knowing how to use a computer. 

   Among Californians who consider themselves ''sophisticated'' computer
users, only 31 percent report serious job problems, according to a Field
Institute survey on work and health in California. In contrast, 70 percent
of nonusers say they are struggling with problems like layoffs, low pay,
dead- end jobs or lack of health insurance. 

   Workers who have computer skills are glad they do. ''It's very
cutthroat out there,'' said Alan Liu of Daly City, manager of an
electrical engineering group at Physical Electronics in Redwood City. 
''There's no such thing as security. Secretaries have to use computers.
Assembly workers have to learn computers to draw circuit diagrams.''
                                                                               
   The share of workers using computers on the job grew from 25 percent in
1984 to 47 percent in 1993, according to data from the Department of
Labor. 

   Recent estimates by Princeton University economist Alan Krueger
suggest that the economic payoff to mastering computers is large -- and
growing steadily. 

   In 1984, people who used computers at work made 17 percent higher wages
than those who didn't, controlling for such factors as education,
experience, race and gender. 

   By 1989, the premium had risen to 19 percent, and by 1993 it exceeded
20 percent. 

   These rewards are flowing disproportionately to workers who already
enjoy the advantages of a better education. In 1993, two-thirds of workers
with a college degree used computers at work, compared to only one-third
of those with a high school diploma. 

   ''It all points in the same direction,'' Krueger said. ''The labor
market is demanding more and more skilled workers. Those who lack computer
and other skills needed in the information age are facing a smaller and
smaller set of job opportunities and lower compensation as a result.''