How Robots Change Within-Firm Wage Inequality

Erling Barth, Marianne Roed (), Pål Schøne () and Janis Umblijs ()
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Marianne Roed: Institute for Social Research, Oslo
Janis Umblijs: Institute for Social Research, Oslo

No 13605, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Using novel matched employer-employee register data with firm-level information on the introduction of industrial robots, this paper analysis the impact of robots on the wages of workers in the manufacturing sector. The results show that industrial robots increase wages for high-skilled workers relative to low-skilled workers, hence robots increases the skill-premium within firms. Furthermore, we find that employees in managerial positions benefit more from robotisation than those in STEM or professional occupations. Overall, our results suggest that the introduction of industrial robots has a positive effect on the average wages of manufacturing workers in Norway.

Keywords: automation; robotisation; labour economics; wages; technological change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 J01 J08 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 2020-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hrm, nep-lab, nep-mac, nep-ore and nep-tid
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

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