From Blue- to Steel-Collar Jobs: The Decline in Employment Gaps?

Abstract

I investigate how the introduction of industrial robots is shaping the demographic composition of the US labor force between 1993 and 2014. I find that robots decreased employment of men and women by 3.7 and 1.6 percentage points, contributing to the secular decline in the gender employment gap, and that they decreased employment among Whites and non-Whites by 1.8 and 4.5 percentage points, widening the race/ethnicity employment gap. These effects follow from the persistent occupational segregation in the labor market. Although robots are primarily used in manufacturing, their adverse effects spill over to local service industries, in particular for Blacks and Hispanics. (JEL E24, J15, J16, L60, O33, R23)