Time: Tuesday, March 28th 15:00-16:00

Venue: Tencent Conference 193-234-217

Topic: Automation Skill and Job Creation

Speaker Introduction: GUO Kaizhao : PhD in Economics, University of Glasgow, UK.  

Research Direction: Labor Economics.

Organizer: Bay Area International Business School, Beijing Normal University

Report Content:

In recent years, with the rapid development of science and technology, the discussion on technological progress and unemployment has once again drew people's attention. Some scholars believe that technological advances will replace the labor force, while others believe that technological advances will benefit the employment of workers. Starting from the heterogeneous impact of automation technology on employment rate, this paper discusses its impact on employment rate in regions with different income levels by identifying the different impacts of employment reduction and increase caused by the adoption of automation technology. Based on data from 722 commuting regions in the U.S., it is empirically evidenced that increasing the adoption rate of automation technology leads to a decrease in overall employment rate. Using income level as a distinction, automation technology has a greater degree of negative impact on employment rates in low-income and middle-income regions, while the impact on employment rates in high-income regions is not significant. A mechanistic analysis in terms of business dynamics shows that Automation does not result in significant job destruction, but rather a net loss of jobs by reducing job creation.The higher the share of conventional jobs, the less likely to benefit from the job creation of automation technologies. In other words, the lower the income region, the fewer new jobs will be created. He argues that job gains from technological change are more likely to be for high-skilled workers, and that this phenomenon is more obvious in manufacturing.