It's not just the ATMs: Technology, firm strategies, jobs, and earnings inretail banking

Using data from extensive on-site interviews conducted in 1997, 1998, and 1 999, the authors examine trends in job content and earnings in selected job s in two American banks. Firm restructuring and technological changes resul ted in higher earnings for college-educated workers. The banks followed dif ferent strategies in implementing these changes for lower-skill jobs, with different effects on bank tellers in particular. The authors conclude that technological change can provide opportunities for workplace reform but doe s not determine its effects on jobs and earnings; these effects are conting ent on managerial strategies. This focus on organizational processes and ma nagerial strategy provides a complement to accounts of growing inequality t hat center solely on the role of individual skills and technological change .