The human race has been using technology since man first chipped stone blades to improve their hunting tools. Throughout history, humans have looked for better ways to meet their needs and satisfy their expectations. Technological evolution has advanced man from the dark ages to the enlightenment and from the agricultural period to the industrial revolution. Today we live in the "Information Age"; a time in which it seems computers permeate every facet of the human experience.

In 1942, economist Joseph A. Schumpter wrote that technological change "incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within (Whalen)." He correctly predicted that technological change would be the core of economics. Technology has had an immediate impact on the U.S. economy in several ways. Technological advancements have changed industry, influenced U.S. wage trends, transformed the American idea of work and revitalized the stock market with the creation of technology stocks.

The U.S. industrial sector has been steadily reorganizing, gathering strength, and improving its efficiency since the 1970s. Today, the U.S. is again one of the world's most productive manufact

The advancements in manufacturing technology have changed the microeconomic picture of the U.S. immensely since the 1970s. The computerization and automation of industry has greatly influenced American wage trends. It restricted opportunities for "good jobs" in manufacturing for those with less education. Of all the reasons for the wage decline - international competition, deregulation, decline of unions - technological progress is probably the most critical (Zuckerman). It has favored the educated and the skilled. Men who have less than a college education have experienced erosion in their incomes. According to a Department of Labor report on 1998 wages, a 30-year-old American man with a high school diploma earned, on average, $29,057. That is about 20% less, adjusted for reported inflation, than in 1974 (Milken).

In the end, the microchip revolution has changed the way life progresses in the U.S. Americans don't work as they did even fifteen years ago. American workers now processes information. This work, this transporting of ideas and information, is the work that has value. It is not as interactive as the way work once was. Instead of an integral part of life, work has become a means to an end, something that gets people somewhere. Americans have always strove to better themselves and work was historically the way they achieved that end. However, after 1972 trends indicated that they wanted to better themselves with as little work as possible and preferably none at all (Rothman).

One of the reasons the demand for more skilled workers has increased is because technological improvements have increased production efficiency. Educated, skilled workers are needed to supervise automated computer equipment and maintain information systems. Another reason for the demand for educated workers is that labor in the U.S. is costly. Many companies have elected to have their manufacturing completed in countries where wages are far less (Rothman). Thus, the lack of need for labor has resulted in a more competitive job market where an education and a marketable technological skill are highly valued. Last, the demand for skilled workers has increased because the advent of information technology there has fueled a dramatic increase in the range and significance of the service economy.

The Microchip Revolution paved the way for service work to move up the economic ladder and encompass some of what had previously been white-collar work. The result has been that some skills, especially information-based skills, have gained in value while others have seen their skills depreciate. The educated and highly skilled upper end of the service sector has found a

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Approximate Word count = 1810
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)