The Computer Worker in the Labor Force

Mail survey and interview data are used to examine the work characteristics of persons employed in the computer field. The middle- and upper-middle strata of computer workers (programmers, analysts, engineers, academics and first-line managers) were studied. Specific job features examined include job content, pay and hours worked, employment and subemployment, job autonomy, and supervision. A new concept based on job content, "techno-metier", indicating the worker's relationship to technology, is found to differentiate among workers more clearly than the use of traditional job titles.