A new study by researchers based at the University of Barcelona and the University of Konstanz looked at how pre-pandemic workplace digitalisation affects political preferences. The research explored the entire active labour force by combining individual-level panel data from Understanding Society (60,000 British workers) with industry-level data on ICT capital stocks between 1997-2017.
The researchers found that digitalisation was economically beneficial for workers with middle and high levels of education. They also found that growth in digitalisation increased support for the Conservative Party, whereas ‘losers’ of digitalisation became tentatively more supportive of UKIP.
The research also shows that digitalisation has led to growing income inequalities between lower and more highly educated workers.
In his recent blog on the research lead author, Nikolas Schöll wrote, “More alarming is the finding that digitalisation leads to strong wage polarization. The research shows that highly educated workers receive higher wages when their workplace digitalises. For example, workers with a university degree earn on average £0.40 more in hourly wages if their workplace digitalises. These +£0.40 might seem small, but accumulated over a year, amount to +£700.
“While workers with other higher degrees (foundation degrees, apprenticeships) also gain when their workplace digitalises, the picture turns more and more bleak for workers of lower education levels. Workers without a formal education are particularly and negatively affected by workplace digitalisation. For them, a £1000 investment in workplace digitalisation leads on average to a £0.20 reduction in hourly wages. Over one year, this accumulates to a minus of about -£350. Digitalisation therefore has limited effects on employment prospects but displays a strong wage polarizing patterns.”
To read more, please see the academic paper and the blog.
EmploymentPolitics and social attitudes
