The Impact of Changing Technology on Employment in Yugoslavia

Abstract

IN this paper we shall employ a dynamic concept of advanced technology. Advanced technology should be considered differently in different stages of economic development. Different types of technology correspond to different stages of development. In the initial stage of industrialization and during the long period required for the development of a large engineering industry, mechanization — the replacement of manual labour by machines — represents the basic type of technical progress. A whole epoch of economic development is characterized by this type of technical progress. The criteria of advanced technology, however, are constantly changing, so that, in the mature stage of industrialization, the technology of production is evolving more and more into a system of automation. Advanced technology also has national criteria. By advanced technology we mean that technology which, though not necessarily the highest in the world, is on a considerably higher level than the prevalent national standards.