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About

Benjamin Lerch is an economist whose research sits at the intersection of automation, labor markets, and human capital formation, with a particular focus on how industrial robotics is reshaping the American workforce. His most influential work examines the cascading effects of robot adoption across U.S. local labor markets, revealing consequences that extend well beyond simple job displacement. In his widely cited research on automation and human capital adjustment, Lerch demonstrates that robot exposure meaningfully increases college enrollment, suggesting workers and prospective workers respond to automation threats by investing in education. His investigations into labor force participation uncover where displaced workers actually go when pushed out of employment — a critical question for understanding the full social costs of automation. Notably, Lerch has shed light on how robotization is transforming workforce demographics, finding that men experience disproportionately larger employment losses than women, thereby contributing to the long-run narrowing of the gender employment gap. With publications accumulating citations across multiple years and outlets, Lerch has established himself as a rigorous and prolific voice in the economics of technological change, offering insights essential for policymakers grappling with automation's uneven distributional consequences.