Job and Skill Impacts of New Technology in the East Asian Electronics Industry

This paper reviews recent (post-1985) research literature on job and skill impacts associated with new manufacturing technologies and more globalised production in the East Asian electronics export industry. It describes the unique developmental, technological and cultural framework of the industry, as a result of which it is successfully managing the assimilation of new technology. Employment levels are not falling in the face of automation, while the main problem remains labour shortage. Imported technology has been effectively absorbed and technological capabilities have been accum ulated, up to levels of globally-competitive innovation in the most successful cases. There is a fresh round of international division of labour in which East Asia emerges as a new 'core' and second-tier Asian nations as a new 'periphery'. Government has played an important role but national tri-partite mechanisms need to be fostered, in particular to address the rapidly emerging issue of continuous training and retraining.