The Rise of Robotic Process Automation in Chile: Technological Adoption, Perceptions, and Potential Social Impact in a Post-COVID Economy

Francisco Rios, Camilo Peña () and Pablo Agnese ()
Additional contact information
Francisco Rios: UIC Barcelona
Pablo Agnese: UIC Barcelona

No 18314, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper reviews RPA adoption in Chile and estimates its future social impact. A survey of 103 professionals—mainly from services, mining, and engineering—shows most firms have not begun implementing RPA. Early adopters prioritize strategic alignment, tech readiness, and scalability, citing benefits such as productivity and efficiency, but also challenges like skills gaps, maintenance, and job-loss concerns. Large companies in IT, mining, and services lead post-Covid adoption. Using data from 1.5M firms, the study estimates that full RPA deployment in purchasing could displace up to 75,000 jobs, with a social cost of USD 1B, largely affecting services, commerce, healthcare, the public sector, and engineering. The Metropolitan Region would be most impacted, potentially losing over 45,000 jobs. The findings show how developing economies can adopt advanced technologies while managing social impacts.

Keywords: perceptions social impact; adoption; robotic process automation; Chile; Post COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L86 M15 O32 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-12
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp18314.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18314

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().