Automation and Diverging Health Risks

Ricardo Ang (), Giseong Kim (), Soojin Kim and Michael Pesko
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Ricardo Ang: Department of Economics, Tulane University
Giseong Kim: Department of Economics, Georgia State University

No 2503, Working Papers from Department of Economics, University of Missouri

Abstract: We examine the impact of automation on workers’ health risks. We first document that automation leads to a divergence in the severity of occupational health risks: while automation reduces nonfatal occupational injury incidence, it increases fatal injury incidence. Secondly, the disparity of health risks across age groups has widened due to automation. The overall hospitalizations have declined in commuting zones with higher automation exposure. Yet, the benefits are concentrated among young workers, while middle-aged workers experience increased hospitalizations, particularly due to despair-related conditions. Combining the occupational injury estimates, a back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that workplace automation provides significant, health-driven economic benefits.

Keywords: Automation; Workplace injury; Health Risks; Fatalities; Mental health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 J1 O3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
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