Is there trickle-down from tech? Poverty, employment, and the high-technology multiplier in U.S. cities

Neil Lee and Andrés Rodríguez-Pose

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: High-technology industries are seen as important in helping urban economies thrive, but at the same time they are often considered potential drivers of relative poverty and social exclusion. Little research, however, has assessed how high-tech affects urban poverty and the wages of workers with little formal education. This article addresses this gap in the literature and investigates the relationships among employment in high-tech industries, poverty, and the labor market for non-degree-educated workers using a panel of 295 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the United States between 2005 and 2011. The results show no real impact of the presence of high-technology industries on poverty and, especially, extreme poverty. Yet there is strong evidence that tech employment increases wages for non-degree-educated workers and, to a lesser extent, employment for those without degrees. These findings suggest that although tech employment has some role in improving welfare for non-degree-educated workers, tech employment alone is not enough to reduce poverty.

Keywords: high-technology industries; employment; wages; poverty; cities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R11 R12 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

Published in Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 2016, 106(5), pp. 1114 - 1134. ISSN: 0004-5608

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/66296/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Is There Trickle-Down from Tech? Poverty, Employment, and the High-Technology Multiplier in U.S. Cities (2016)
Working Paper: Is there trickle-down from tech? Poverty, employment and the high-technology multiplier in US cities (2016)
Working Paper: Is there trickle-down from tech? Poverty, employment and the high-technology multiplier in US cities (2016)
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