Robot Hubs and the Use of Robotics in US Manufacturing Establishments

Erik Brynjolfsson, Catherine Buffington, Nathan Goldschlag, J. Frank Li, Javier Miranda and Robert Seamans

AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2025, vol. 115, 24-28

Abstract: We use data from the Annual Survey of Manufactures to study the characteristics and geographic distribution of investments in robots across US manufacturing establishments. Robotics adoption and robot intensity (the number of robots per employee) cluster in "robot hubs." Establishments that report having robotics are larger and have a larger production worker share, lower pay per worker, lower labor share, and higher capital expenditures, including higher IT capital expenditures. Notably, establishments are more likely to have robots if other establishments in the same core-based statistical area and industry also report having robotics, suggestive of agglomeration and peer effects.

JEL-codes: D24 D33 E26 G32 L25 L60 R32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20251000

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