ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the problems of structural change associated with the introduction of major new technologies. It describes the theoretical framework of the Technical Change and Employment Opportunities Programme (TEMPO) at the Science Policy Research Unit, and seeks to explain the persistence of unemployment in terms of long cycles of economic development. The chapter summarizes the empirical work which has attempted to relate technical change to the main trends of investment, employment and output in the major sectors of the United Kingdom (UK) economy since 1948. It discusses the future direction of technical change and some of the policy implications. In the empirical research for the TEMPO project we have examined the process of technical change in relation to each major sector of manufacturing and service employment in the UK since World War II. Economic growth is not merely accompanied by fast growing new industries and the expansion of such industries; it primarily depends on that expansion.
