Robot Imports and Employment Location Choice

Abstract

As the “pearl at the top of the manufacturing industry,” the widespread use of robots is affecting the employment decisions of individual workers. This paper contributes to our understanding of this subject by analyzing the impact of imports of industrial robots on employment location choice at the inter-provinces level in China. The analysis applies a logit approach to microdata from the China Customs Database and China Labor Dynamics Survey. The results suggest that robot import positively affects employment location choice, supporting the theory of “coexistence” between intelligent robots and the labor force. Specifically, industrial robots attract skilled workers via the creation effect and drive away routine labor via the substitution effect, but the creation effect is greater than the substitution effect. Finally, the authors discuss the channels from the perspectives of “skill-biased” and “routine-biased.”