IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aejmac/v16y2024i4p311-49.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Automation, Bargaining Power, and Labor Market Fluctuations

Author

Listed:
  • Sylvain Leduc
  • Zheng Liu

Abstract

We argue that the threat of automation weakens workers' bargaining power in wage negotiations, dampening wage adjustments and amplifying unemployment fluctuations. We make this argument based on a business cycle model with labor market search frictions, generalized to incorporate automation decisions. In the model, procyclical automation threats create endogenous real wage rigidity that amplifies labor market fluctuations. The automation mechanism is consistent with empirical evidence. It is also quantitatively important for explaining the large volatilities of unemployment and vacancies relative to that of real wages, a puzzling observation through the lens of standard business cycle models.

Suggested Citation

  • Sylvain Leduc & Zheng Liu, 2024. "Automation, Bargaining Power, and Labor Market Fluctuations," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 311-349, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmac:v:16:y:2024:i:4:p:311-49
    DOI: 10.1257/mac.20220181
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/mac.20220181
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/E193242V2
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/mac.20220181.appx
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/mac.20220181.ds
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1257/mac.20220181?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert Shimer, 2005. "The Cyclical Behavior of Equilibrium Unemployment and Vacancies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 25-49, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kyle Herkenhoff & Lee Ohanian, 2019. "The Impact of Foreclosure Delay on U.S. Employment," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 31, pages 63-83, January.
    2. Jochen Mankart & Rigas Oikonomou, 2017. "Household Search and the Aggregate Labour Market," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 84(4), pages 1735-1788.
    3. Lin, Tsu-ting Tim, 2015. "Working capital requirement and the unemployment volatility puzzle," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 201-217.
    4. Michael Christl, 2020. "A Beveridge curve decomposition for Austria: did the liberalisation of the Austrian labour market shift the Beveridge curve?," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 54(1), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Champagne, Julien & Kurmann, André & Stewart, Jay, 2017. "Reconciling the divergence in aggregate U.S. wage series," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 27-41.
    6. Isabel Cairó & Shigeru Fujita & Camilo Morales-Jimenez, 2020. "The Cyclicality of Labor Force Participation Flows: The Role of Labor Supply Elasticities and Wage Rigidity," Working Papers 20-23, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    7. Marcelo Veracierto, 2007. "Establishments dynamics and matching frictions in classical competitive equilibrium," Working Paper Series WP-07-16, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    8. Schmutte, Ian M., 2016. "Labor markets with endogenous job referral networks: Theory and empirical evidence," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 30-42.
    9. Alejandro Justiniano, 2012. "Comment on "Structural and Cyclical Forces in the Labor Market during the Great Recession: Cross-Country Evidence"," NBER Chapters, in: NBER International Seminar on Macroeconomics 2012, pages 415-424, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Gehrke, Britta & Lechthaler, Wolfgang & Merkl, Christian, 2019. "The German labor market during the Great Recession: Shocks and institutions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 192-208.
    11. Amaral, Pedro S. & Tasci, Murat, 2016. "The cyclical behavior of equilibrium unemployment and vacancies across OECD countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 184-201.
    12. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/5por5bt92h8l0bc7ls4elmcc0b is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Christopher Roth & Johannes Wohlfart, 2020. "How Do Expectations about the Macroeconomy Affect Personal Expectations and Behavior?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(4), pages 731-748, October.
    14. José I. Silva & Manuel Toledo, 2013. "The Unemployment Volatility Puzzle: The Role Of Matching Costs Revisited," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(1), pages 836-843, January.
    15. Hauser, Daniela & Seneca, Martin, 2022. "Labor mobility in a monetary union," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    16. Pallage, Stéphane & Scruggs, Lyle & Zimmermann, Christian, 2013. "Measuring Unemployment Insurance Generosity," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(4), pages 524-549.
    17. Aurelijus Dabusinskas & István Kónya & Stephen Millard, 2015. "How does labour market structure affect the response of economies to shocks?," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1516, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    18. Brown, Alessio J.G. & Merkl, Christian & Snower, Dennis J., 2011. "Comparing the effectiveness of employment subsidies," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 168-179, April.
    19. Leo Kaas & Philipp Kircher, 2015. "Efficient Firm Dynamics in a Frictional Labor Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3030-3060, October.
    20. Molnárová, Zuzana & Reiter, Michael, 2022. "Technology, demand, and productivity: What an industry model tells us about business cycles," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    21. Schulz, Bastian, 2024. "Labor market dynamics with sorting," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aejmac:v:16:y:2024:i:4:p:311-49. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.