The impact of robots on labour market transitions in Europe

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Date:
2024-05-06
Authors:
Myrielle Gonschor
Ronald Bachmann
Karol Madoń
Piotr Lewandowski
Publication year:
2024
Publications category:
Abstract:

We study the effects of robot exposure on worker flows in 16 European countries between 2000-2017. Overall, we find small negative effects on job separations and no effects on job findings. We detect significant cross-country differences and find that labour costs are a major driver: the effects of robot exposure are generally larger in absolute terms in countries with relatively low or average levels of labour costs than in countries with high levels of labour costs. These effects are particularly pronounced for workers in occupations intensive in routine manual or routine cognitive tasks but are insignificant in occupations intensive in non-routine cognitive tasks. A counterfactual analysis suggests that robot adoption increased employment and reduced unemployment, especially in European countries with relatively low or average levels of labour costs, and that these effects were driven mainly by lower job separations.

Additional information:

We thank Cevat Giray Aksoy, Wolfgang Dauth, Hanna Frings, Andreas Lichter, Attila Lindner, Pascual Restrepo, Sandra Schaffner, Bernhard Schmidpeter, Joel Stiebale and Eduard Storm; and the participants of SOLE 2021, ESPE 2021, the Jobs and Development Conference 2021, SMYE 2021, the 7th European User Conference for EU Microdata, and seminars at IAB Nürnberg and RWI for helpful comments. This paper uses Eurostat data. Eurostat has no responsibility for the results and the conclusions, which are those of the authors. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement No. 1001004776.

Published in:

Structural Change and Economic Dynamics

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