IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-24-00226.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Robotization and returns to tasks

Author

Listed:
  • Lucas Parmentier

    (University of La Réunion)

Abstract

I provide new evidence of the impacts of robotization on the returns to tasks in US labor markets between 1990 and 2007. I find that the adoption of one robot per thousand workers increases the changes in the returns to abstract and routine tasks by 0.049 and 0.066 percentage points, respectively, relative to manual tasks. These magnitudes imply that the adoption of one robot per thousand workers has substantial effects on wages since it increases wages by 1.70% due to the positive impact of robotization on the returns to abstract tasks, and by 3.76% due to the positive effects on the returns to routine tasks. The results are robust to various specifications.

Suggested Citation

  • Lucas Parmentier, 2024. "Robotization and returns to tasks," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 44(4), pages 1545-1551.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-24-00226
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2024/Volume44/EB-24-V44-I4-P123.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David H. Autor & Frank Levy & Richard J. Murnane, 2003. "The skill content of recent technological change: an empirical exploration," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Nov.
    2. David J. Deming, 2017. "The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(4), pages 1593-1640.
    3. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2020. "Robots and Jobs: Evidence from US Labor Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(6), pages 2188-2244.
    4. David H. Autor & Michael J. Handel, 2013. "Putting Tasks to the Test: Human Capital, Job Tasks, and Wages," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(S1), pages 59-96.
    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. Tan, Joanne, 2024. "Multidimensional heterogeneity and matching in a frictional labor market — An application to polarization," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    2. Gallipoli, Giovanni & Makridis, Christos A., 2018. "Structural transformation and the rise of information technology," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 91-110.
    3. Da Xie & WeiGuo Yang, 2023. "The Skill-Task Matching Model: Mechanism, Model Structure, and Algorithm," Papers 2306.12176, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2023.
    4. Lucas Parmentier, 2024. "Robotization and returns to tasks [Robotisation et rendement des tâches de travail]," Post-Print hal-04924941, HAL.
    5. Sabrina Aufiero & Giordano De Marzo & Angelica Sbardella & Andrea Zaccaria, 2023. "Mapping job complexity and skills into wages," Papers 2304.05251, arXiv.org.
    6. Armanda Cetrulo & Dario Guarascio & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2020. "Anatomy of the Italian occupational structure: concentrated power and distributed knowledge," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 29(6), pages 1345-1379.
    7. Goos, Maarten & Rademakers, Emilie & Röttger, Ronja, 2021. "Routine-Biased technical change: Individual-Level evidence from a plant closure," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    8. Wehner, Caroline & de Grip, Andries & Pfeifer, Harald, 2022. "Do recruiters select workers with different personality traits for different tasks? A discrete choice experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    9. Hidalgo, Camila & Micco, Alejandro, 2024. "Computerization, offshoring and trade: The effect on developing countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    10. Hernnäs, Sofia, 2023. "Automation when skills are bundled," Working Paper Series 2023:2, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    11. Daniela Rohrbach-Schmidt, 2019. "Putting Tasks to the Test: The Case of Germany," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(3), pages 122-135.
    12. Fran Stewart & Kathryn Kelley, 2020. "Connecting Hands and Heads: Retooling Engineering Technology for the “Smart†Manufacturing Workplace," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 34(1), pages 31-45, February.
    13. Songul Tolan & Annarosa Pesole & Fernando Martinez-Plumed & Enrique Fernandez-Macias & José Hernandez-Orallo & Emilia Gomez, 2020. "Measuring the Occupational Impact of AI: Tasks, Cognitive Abilities and AI Benchmarks," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2020-02, Joint Research Centre.
    14. Kaltenberg, Mary & Foster-McGregor, Neil, 2020. "The impact of automation on inequality across Europe," MERIT Working Papers 2020-009, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    15. Consoli, Davide & Marin, Giovanni & Rentocchini, Francesco & Vona, Francesco, 2023. "Routinization, within-occupation task changes and long-run employment dynamics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    16. Neffke, Frank & Nedelkoska, Ljubica & Wiederhold, Simon, 2024. "Skill mismatch and the costs of job displacement," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(2).
    17. Christina Langer & Simon Wiederhold, 2023. "The Value of Early-Career Skills," Working Papers 222, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    18. Hensvik, Lena & Skans, Oskar Nordström, 2023. "The skill-specific impact of past and projected occupational decline," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    19. Florian Englmaier & Stefan Grimm & Dominik Grothe & David Schindler & Simeon Schudy, 2024. "The Efficacy of Tournaments for Nonroutine Team Tasks," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(4), pages 921-948.
    20. Brey, Björn, 2024. "The effect of recent technological change on US immigration policy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Robotization; Tasks; Wages; Automation; Technological change;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs

    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:ebl:ecbull:eb-24-00226. 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: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.