Increased Wage Inequality via ICTs: Making a Case for Human Capital Investment

Abstract

Globalisation and technological advances have affected workers' livelihoods. This study analysed how capital investment in ICTs at the workplace affected marginalised low wage workers in a large sample of firms (n=632) in Singapore. We found that social investment by the state for ICTs investments in workplaces led to a significant negative, albeit marginal, reduction in wage growth. We argue that these findings are supported by economic theory, and propose that government investment balance towards higher-order digital skills. We advocate for further research to measure the impact of worker ownership in enterprises on productivity growth, and hence equality objectives.