Foreign Ownership, Microelectronic Technology and Skills: Evidence for British Establishments

In: National Institute economic review: journal of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, Band 185, S. 93-106

Abstract

This paper uses the Workplace Employee Relations Survey panel for 1990–1998 to investigate the relationship between foreign ownership, skill-structure and use of microelectronic technologies in British establishments. We find that foreign-owned establishments are early adopters of new microelectronic technologies and employ more non-manual workers (more senior technical professional workers, less skilled manual workers). Because foreign-owned establishments are early adopters of new technology, an increase in foreign ownership can partly explain a recent improvement in the relative position of skilled workers in Britain.