The researchers said the findings — “large and robust negative effects of robots on employment and wages” — remained strong even after controlling for imports, offshoring, software<br />that displaces jobs, worker demographics and the type of industry.<br />For every robot per thousand workers, up to six workers lost their jobs<br />and wages fell by as much as three-fourths of a percent, according to a new paper by the economists, Daron Acemoglu of M. I.T.<br />From 1993 to 2007, the United States added one new industrial robot for every thousand<br />workers — mostly in the Midwest, South and East — and Western Europe added 1.6.<br />The study, a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper published Monday, used data on the number of robots from<br />the International Federation of Robotics (there is no consistent data on the monetary value of the robots in use.)<br />“The market economy is not going to create the jobs by itself for these workers who are bearing the brunt of the change.”<br />The paper’s evidence of job displacement from technology contrasts with a comment from the Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, who said at an Axios event last week<br />that artificial intelligence’s displacement of human jobs was “not even on our radar screen,” and “50 to 100 more years” away.<br />In a paper last year, they said it was likely that increased automation would create new, better jobs, so employment<br />and wages would eventually return to their previous levels.
