The Employment Effects of ICT Investment: Evidence from the U.S. Commuting Zones

This paper estimates changes in ICT investment across Commuting Zones (CZs) in the United States from 2008 to 2019 and uses the Bartik instrumental variable method to assess the impact of ICT investment on local employment. The results indicate that ICT investment has a modest yet significantly positive effect on employment. The employment effects vary by industry and ICT type, with notably stronger positive effects for intellectual property-intensive (software-related) ICT investments. Furthermore, ICT investment has the largest positive employment effects in CZs with greater exposure to non-routine tasks, while in CZs with higher exposure to routine tasks, ICT investment exerts negative employment effects. These findings provide new insights into the employment effects of ICT investment in the United States over the past 15 years.