The Cloudland Collective:
`Robots are coming for your job!' ? Liz Ross
17 May 2017
In the period 1993-2007, Graetz and Michaels found that in 14 industries in 17 developed countries including Australia, industrial robots increase labour productivity, total factor productivity and wages. They had no significant effect on total hours worked but did impact the number of jobs. So in essence, robots did not reduce toil (hours of work) for those who had work, on the contrary. But they did lead to a loss of jobs for the unskilled and even those with some skills. So more toil, not less hours; and more unemployment.
Related publications
‘Robots at work: the impact on productivity and jobs’, Georg Graetz, Guy Michaels, Article in CentrePiece Volume 20, Issue 1, Summer 2015