This technological innovation also resulted in an increase in the demand for unskilled workers and a decrease in the demand for skilled artisans. The introduction of automated manufacturing processes, on the other hand, has resulted in a decrease in the demand for unskilled workers and an increase in the demand for quality control technicians and computer programmers. In general, technological change will alter the composition of the demand for labor, raising the demand for some types of labor and reducing the demand for other types of labor. Those who lose jobs as a result of technological change that reduces the demand for that category of labor are said to be structurally unemployed. Even though technological change may adversely effect the demand for labor in some labor markets, the overall effect of technological change on total employment may be positive.
Technological change tends to increase the rate of economic growth.
Higher rates of economic growth are generally associated with lower unemployment rates. While there is some doubt about the exact magnitude of this effect, there is substantial empirical evidence that unemployment rates tend to fall when the rate of economic growth is higher. While the effect of technological change on the unemployment rate is ambiguous, this may be little consolation to those workers whose job skills have been rendered obsolete as a result of technological change. One of the issues that every industrialized society has to deal with is the extent to which the government should be involved in the retraining of structurally unemployed workers. A good deal of recent debate has involved the related question of whether the widespread use of computers in the workplace has enhanced productivity.