Digitalization and the American workforce

Over the past half century, wave after wave of digital innovation has ensured that “digitalization” the diffusion of digital technologies into nearly every business and workplace and pocket has been remaking the U.S. economy and the world of work. So rapid are the developments, in fact, that while the “digitalization of everything” has become a hallmark of tech’s promise of empowerment, it has begun to prompt widespread anxiety, including among workers who worry about their future in an age of brilliant machines. And yet, for all of the evidence that big changes are underway, surprisingly little data exists to track the spread of digital adoption. In the absence of such information, the digitalization trend, as prominent as it is, remains diffuse and hard to pin down. Hence this report: Designed to clarify a major trend, the present assessment provides a detailed analysis of changes in the digital content of 545 occupations covering 90 percent of the workforce in all industries since 2001.