Perceived Impacts of Technology Use on the Productivity of US Manufacturing Businesses

This paper examines the perceived effects of technology use on the employment, revenue, and productivity of US manufacturers. Results from a 2023 survey of US manufacturers (n=268) show that 48% of the surveyed businesses perceive that technology use has “no effect” on employment, 16% perceive positive impacts and 12% feel that technology use lowers the number of workers employed by the business. By contrast, only 21% of the surveyed US manufacturing businesses believe that technology use has no effect on the company’s annual revenue, 50% perceive positive impacts, while just 5% feel that technology use has a negative impact on revenue. Taken together, survey results suggest that technology use increases the productivity of a hypothetical US manufacturing business by an average of 9.2%. When companies that do not use technology are removed from the analysis, the perceived positive impact of technology use on productivity rises to an average of 12.1%. Future research will take a more in-depth look at the effects of technology on manufacturing productivity, with a focus on the differential impacts of specific types of technology.