How’s life in the digital age in the United States?
Unfortunately, data limitations prevent a comprehensive analysis of the opportunities and risks of the digital transformation in the United States. In particular, data on a number of key digital risks is missing, making it difficult to assess to what extent people in the United States are exposed to the well-being risks of the digital transformation. In general, the United States has average outcomes in attaining key opportunities of the digital transformation. The United States boasts the highest returns to ICT tasks in the OECD, reflecting the high potential income gains of digital skills. While the share of the population with digital skills is around the average, the digital skills gap is comparatively small. The United States also faces a relatively low risk of job automation, with 10.2% of jobs estimated to be at a high risk of automation. However, Internet access and use in the United States falls behind most other OECD countries. More than a quarter of households do not have broadband Internet access, the fourth lowest share across the OECD. In addition, exposure to disinformation is relatively high, and 31% of Americans reports having encountered disinformation in the past week.
Note: This wheel depicts the United States’ relative performance in terms of key opportunities and risks in the context of the digital transformation. The centre of the wheel corresponds to the lowest outcome observed across all OECD countries, while the outer circle corresponds to the highest outcome. For opportunities (in dark blue) longer bars indicate better outcomes, whereas for risks (in yellow), longer bars indicate worse outcomes. If data are missing for any given indicator, the relevant segment of the circle is shaded in white.