Tech Is Splitting the U.S. Work Force in Two
- 2019-03-14
- The New York Times
A small group of well-educated professionals enjoys rising wages, while most workers toil in low-wage jobs with few chances to advance.
There’s Intel’s $7 billion, seven-nanometer chip plant going up in Chandler. In Scottsdale, Axon, the maker of the Taser, is hungrily snatching talent from Silicon Valley as it embraces automation to keep up with growing demand. Start-ups in fields as varied as autonomous drones and blockchain are flocking to the area, drawn in large part by light regulation and tax incentives.
And yet for all its success in drawing and nurturing firms on the technological frontier, Phoenix cannot escape the uncomfortable pattern taking shape across the American economy: Despite all its shiny new high-tech businesses, the vast majority of new jobs are in workaday service industries, like health care, hospitality, retail and building services, where pay is mediocre.
Even economists are reassessing their belief that technological progress lifts all boats, and are beginning to worry about the new configuration of work.