The use of information technologies is widespread, with almost two-thirds of workers reporting using a computer. A little over one-third of all establishments, accounting for 55 percent of employment, reported the implementation of information technologies during the three years prior to the survey. Thirteen percent of establishments reported implementing some other form of technology. Fifteen percent of establishments, representing 29 percent of workers, reported a product, service or process innovation over the same period. About half of all establishments, accounting for one-third of workers, reported neither the implementation of new technology nor any other innovation.
Research is now underway to address questions about the intensity of use of technology.
As expected, re-engineering of the business process is strongly associated with the adoption of technologies. In general, establishments that adopted a computer-based technology were more likely to have made an organizational change other than downsizing than those that did not. Preliminary results show little association between downsizing and the adoption of computer-based technologies, suggesting that most downsizing was not in response to the implementation of technology. The WES links training to several other variables, providing researchers access to more information than ever before and permitting deeper analysis of the subject. In fact, the pilot study illustrates that surveys of establishments or workers, in isolation, can lead to potentially misleading results.