Impact of Robot Installations on Employment and Labour Productivity in Automotive Industry

摘要

The automotive industry is regarded as one of the most robotized sectors of the manufacturing industry. The topic of robotization is currently intensely debated within the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0. In this study, we focused on automobile manufacturers operating in selected countries of the European Union and analysed the level of labour productivity and employment in the period 2002-2021. Specifically, we investigated whether the annual installation of robots and the total number of robots in the automotive industry had a negative impact on labour demand. The collected data were evaluated on the basis of empirical analysis. Our estimations show that the installation of robots in the automotive industry has a positive effect on labour demand. At the same time, however, it was found that labour productivity tends to decrease as the number of robots increases. A possible explanation for these results is that major manufacturing activities in this sector are being replaced by machines at the expense of human labour.<br />Implications for Central European audience: Theoretical implications of the article arise from primary literature that investigates the implications of industry robotization on the labour market. The practical implications stem from our empirical analysis, which investigates the impact of robotization on labour demand and productivity in automobile industries across the EU.