Ratio Working Paper No. 377: Artificial Intelligence and Worker Stress: Evidence from Germany - Ratio

PublikationWorking paper

Ratio Working Paper No. 377: Artificial Intelligence and Worker Stress: Evidence from Germany

Sammanfattning

We use individual survey data providing detailed information on stress, technology adoption, and work, worker, and employer characteristics, in combination with recent measures of AI and robot exposure, to investigate how new technologies affect worker stress. We find a persistent negative relationship, suggesting that AI and robots could reduce the stress level of workers. We furthermore provide evidence on potential mechanisms to explain our findings. Overall, the results provide suggestive evidence of modern technologies changing the way we perform our work in a way that reduces stress and work pressure.

Koch, M., & Lodefalk, M. (2024). Artificial Intelligence and worker stress: Evidence from Germany (Working Paper No. 377). Ratio Institute.

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Publiceringsår

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Publicerat i

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Sammanfattning

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Publiceringsår

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Publicerat i

Research Policy

Sammanfattning

As a first step, the study documents novel evidence on changes in tasks and skills within occupations in Germany over the past two decades. It further identifies a distinct relationship between ex ante occupational work content and ex post exposure to artificial intelligence (AI) and automation through robots. Workers in occupations with high AI exposure perform different activities and face different skill requirements than workers in occupations primarily exposed to robots, suggesting that AI and robots substitute for different types of tasks and skills. The study also shows that changes in the task and skill content of occupations are related to their initial exposure to these technologies. Finally, using individual labour market biographies, the analysis investigates the relationship between AI exposure and wages. By examining the dynamic effects of AI exposure over time, the study finds positive associations with wages, with nuanced differences across occupational groups, thereby providing further insight into the substitutability and augmentability of AI.

Working paper

Working Paper No. 386 The Effects of Artificial Intelligence on Jobs: Evidence from an AI subsidy Program.

Mark Hellsten, Shantanu Khanna, Magnus Lodefalk, Yaroslav Yakymovych

Publiceringsår

2025

Publicerat i

Ratio Working Paper Series.

Sammanfattning

Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to reshape labor markets, yet causal evidence remains scarce. We exploit a novel Swedish subsidy program that encouraged small and mid-sized firms to adopt AI. Using a synthetic difference-in-differences design comparing awarded and non-awarded firms, we find that AI subsidies led to a sustained increase in job postings over five years, but with no statistically detectable change in employment. This pattern reflects hiring signals concentrated in AI occupations and white-collar roles. Our findings align with task-based models of automation, in which AI adoption reconfigures work and spurs demand for new skills, but hiring frictions and the need for complementary investments delay workforce expansion.

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