Industrial robots and workers’ well-being in Europe

Honorata Bogusz () and Daniela Bellani
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Honorata Bogusz: University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences
Daniela Bellani: Università Cattolica, Milano

No 2025-01, Working Papers from Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw

Abstract: In the 21st century, advancements in technologies such as industrial robots have raised concerns about their impact on employment and wages, prompting extensive research. However, their effects on workers’ subjective well-being remain underexplored. This study addresses this gap ¬by examining whether workers experience a decline in well-being due to a loss of agency or maintain it by leveraging human skills to adapt to automation. Using data from the International Federation of Robotics, Eurostat, and the European Social Survey (2002–2018), we link robot density at the country-industry-year level to workers’ life satisfaction, happiness, job influence, and health. Employing an instrumental variables approach, we find that robot adoption negatively affects medium-educated workers’ well-being, particularly its eudaimonic dimension, supporting the decreasing agency thesis. In contrast, low- and highly educated workers experience positive effects. These impacts are more pronounced among women and weaker in countries with robust compensatory social policies.

Keywords: industrial robots; well-being; life satisfaction; Europe; education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 pages
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec, nep-eur, nep-hap, nep-lab and nep-tid
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https://www.wne.uw.edu.pl/download_file/5249/0 First version, 2025 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:war:wpaper:2025-01

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