Industrial robots, Workers’ safety, and health

Rania Gihleb, Osea Giuntella, Luca Stella and Tianyi Wang

Labour Economics, 2022, vol. 78, issue C

Abstract: This study explores the relationship between the adoption of industrial robots and workplace injuries. Using establishment-level data on injuries, we find that a one standard deviation increase in our commuting zone-level measure of robot exposure reduces work-related annual injury rates by approximately 1.2 cases per 100 workers. US commuting zones more exposed to robot penetration experience a significant increase in drug- or alcohol-related deaths and mental health problems. Employing longitudinal data from Germany, we exploit within-individual changes in robot exposure and document that a one standard deviation change in robot exposure led to a 4% decline in physical job intensity and a 5% decline in disability, but no evidence of significant effects on mental health and work and life satisfaction.

Keywords: Robot-Exposure; Work-Related health risks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 J0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Industrial Robots, Workers' Safety, and Health (2022)
Working Paper: Industrial Robots, Workers' Safety, and Health (2022)
Working Paper: Industrial Robots, Workers’ Safety, and Health (2020)
Working Paper: Industrial Robots, Workers' Safety, and Health (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:labeco:v:78:y:2022:i:c:s0927537122000963

DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2022.102205

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