Technology and labor relations in the construction industry

摘要

Conclusions It is clear that a great array of new job titles and a profusion of semiskilled categories of construction work have developed which were not represented by unions when unions established the labor structure that dominated the industry for many years. They have come about because technology has compressed skill requirements away from the extremes and towards the center: fewer craftsmen with highly refined, broadly based skills are needed, but more who have limited or specialized skills are needed, and more who can apply some lesser degree of skill than either, but enough to be able to follow their leads, are also needed. At the same time, there is less need for lift-and-carry work unassisted by mechanical advantage, so there is decreased demand for laborers in the old sense—workers who were allowed to use the tools of no trade.