COVID-19 and Implications for Automation

Alex Chernoff and Casey Warman

Staff Working Papers from Bank of Canada

Abstract: COVID-19 may accelerate the automation of jobs as employers invest in technology to safeguard against pandemics. We identify occupations that have high automation potential and also exhibit a high risk of viral infection. We examine regional variation in terms of which U.S. local labor markets are most at risk. Next, we outline the differential impacts COVID-19 may have on different demographic groups. We find that the highest-risk occupations in the U.S. are those held by females with mid- to low wage and education levels. Using comparable data for 25 other countries, we also find that women in this demographic are at the highest risk internationally. We examine monthly employment data from the U.S. and find that women in high-risk occupations experienced a larger initial decline in employment and a weaker recovery during the pandemic.

Keywords: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19); International topics; Labour markets (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I14 I24 J15 J16 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2021-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-tid
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Related works:
Working Paper: COVID-19 and Implications for Automation (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bca:bocawp:21-25

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