No abstract

High technology industries employ higher than average numbers of scientists and engineers when compared to the employment of the same group among all industries. Since these jobs require high levels of skills to undertake creative, cutting edge activities, it is anticipated that employment in these industries will be largely based on the levels of human capital of individuals or merit. This study compares how changes in levels of educational attainment affect employment in science and engineering jobs in high technology industries with those outside for four racial and ethnic groups. Although blacks and Hispanics are under-represented in science and engineering occupations, the study finds that the effects of education vary with the level of education, race/ethnicity, and the industry/occupational group under consideration in ways that suggest that the race/ethnicity of an individual still plays an important role in determining employment.

Inequality is growing in the United States. This article examines the relationship between innovation strategies and wage inequality at state level in the US. State science and technology strategies usually aim to add high-skill, high-wage jobs to the local economy. When they succeed, therefore, they threaten to increase wage inequality. Alternative innovation strategies are possible, including 'good job' strategies that focus on creating jobs in the middle of the wage distribution, and 'better life' strategies that improve living conditions for those at the low end of the wage scale and for the unemployed.