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Is this time different? A note on automation and labour in the fourth industrial revolution

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  • Luigi Marengo

    (LUISS)

Abstract

The diffusion of digital technologies, computers, robots and now the outbreak of artificial intelligence and internet of things is causing major changes in the demand for labour. Many jobs are rapidly disappearing because the corresponding tasks are automated and this substitution concerns not only low-skill manual and routine jobs, but more and more also cognitive medium- and even high-skill jobs. In this article, I briefly discuss two alternative views. One view claims that we are in a transition phase, but, alike the previous industrial revolutions, in the long run the balance between lost and created jobs will be positive both in numbers and, especially, in quality. The other view claims instead that the economic characteristics of the technologies of the current industrial revolution are profoundly different from the previous ones and that their impact on employment and social equality is likely to be negative on the whole.

Suggested Citation

  • Luigi Marengo, 2019. "Is this time different? A note on automation and labour in the fourth industrial revolution," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 46(3), pages 323-331, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:epolin:v:46:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s40812-019-00123-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s40812-019-00123-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Siegmann, K.A. & Ivosevic, P. & Visser, O., 2021. "Working like machines: Exploring effects of technological change on migrant labour in Dutch horticulture," ISS Working Papers - General Series 691, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    2. José-Ignacio Antón & David Klenert & Enrique Fernández-Macías & Maria Cesira Urzì Brancati & Georgios Alaveras, 2022. "The labour market impact of robotisation in Europe," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 28(3), pages 317-339, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Automation; Employment; Industrial revolutions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General

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