Racing With or Against the Machine?: Evidence from Europe

Terry Gregory, A.M. Salomons and Ulrich Zierahn-Weilage

No 18-07, Working Papers from Utrecht School of Economics

Abstract: A fast-growing literature shows that digital technologies are displacing labor from routine tasks, raising concerns that labor is racing against the machine. We develop a task-based framework to estimate the aggregate labor demand and employment effects of routine replacing technological change (RRTC), along with the underlying mechanisms. We show that while RRTC has indeed had strong displacement effects in the European Union between 1999 and 2010, it has simultaneously created new jobs through increased product demand, outweighing displacement effects and resulting in net employment growth. However, we also show that this finding depends on the distribution of gains from technological progress

Keywords: Labor Demand; Employment; Routine-Replacing Technological Change; Tasks; Local Demand Spillovers; T (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-big
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Racing With or Against the Machine? Evidence from Europe (2019)
Working Paper: Racing With or Against the Machine? Evidence from Europe (2018)
Working Paper: Racing With or Against the Machine? Evidence from Europe (2016)
Working Paper: Racing With or Against the Machine? Evidence from Europe (2016)
Working Paper: Racing with or against the machine? Evidence from Europe (2016)
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