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Robots and Unions: The Moderating Effect of Organised Labour on Technological Unemployment

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  • Henri Haapanala;
  • Ive Marx;
  • Zachary Parolin;

Abstract

We analyse the moderating effect of trade unions on industrial employment and unemployment in countries facing exposure to industrial robots. Applying random effects within-between regression to a pseudo-panel of observations from 28 advanced democracies over 1998-2019, we find that stronger trade unions in a country are associated with a greater decline in the industry sector employment of young and low-educated workers. We also show that the unemployment rates for low-educated workers remain constant in strongly unionised countries with increasing exposure to robots, whereas in weakly unionised countries, low-educated unemployment declines with robot exposure but from a higher starting point. Our results point to unions exacerbating the insider-outsider effects of technological change within the industrial sector, which however is not fully passed on to unemployment.

Suggested Citation

  • Henri Haapanala; & Ive Marx; & Zachary Parolin;, 2021. "Robots and Unions: The Moderating Effect of Organised Labour on Technological Unemployment," Working Papers 2110, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    • Handle: RePEc:hdl:wpaper:2110
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    References listed on IDEAS

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