All across the United States in recent months has been the argument about finding ways to change the wage structure that currently exists in this country. The gap that is currently maintained in reference to wage inequality continues to widen and the arguments for significant increases to the minimum wage and to wages offered by retail and fast food companies has grown louder and louder. There have always been factors involved in the reasons for the gaps that currently exist in wages today, including educational factors and other socio-economic factors, but one notion that has begun to get notice and interest is that perhaps the great advances made in technology today have helped to lead to the increasing wage gap as well. Here are a few ways in which technology may have played a role in this occurring.
- More Technology Requires More Education – At nearly every type of job and in every type of job sector that exists over the last twenty or thirty years there has been significant strides made in terms of the technology used to perform these jobs. With all of the additional technology that has been and continues to be introduced in different jobs, higher levels of understanding and education are needed in order to operate and use this technology to its fullest potential. This has caused industries to become much more skewed to favor more skilled and more educated workers at all levels in order to perform these jobs.
- Technology Has Replaced Workers – In some industries where technology has become more and more prevalent, there are technologies and robotics in place today that have allowed for the replacement of positions that may have been deemed as unskilled in the past, pushing some out of work as technology has taken over their past duties. This is particularly seen in a wide number of factory and warehouse positions where computers, machines and robotics are able to take over assembly line work that may have been performed by people in the past.
- Technology Use Requires More Skills – Even for jobs that require the use of some form of new technology available, in order to use this technology and earn a higher wage the employee needs to have a higher skill set than in the past. This has left many workers out of the loop for potentially higher paying jobs if they have not been able to acquire the necessary skills to move ahead.
While there are other factors involved that have contributed to the wage scale and the wage inequality that exists in the United States today, the introduction of more and more technology in every type of job has contributed for the need of a higher level of skilled workers, displacing workers of the past and relegating them to even lower paying jobs. There is still great deal that needs to be ironed out in order for there to be more of a balance as the need for a skilled workforce changes and grows as technology becomes more incorporated in every facet of business so that opportunities exist for more people to get the chance at skilled jobs, education and better wages.