Working Paper No. 371: Artificial Intelligence Tasks Skills and Wages: Worker-Level Evidence from Germany

PublikationWorking paper
Erik Engberg, Magnus Lodefalk

Sammanfattning

This paper documents novel facts on within-occupation task and skill changes over the past two decades in Germany. In a second step, it reveals a distinct relationship between occupational work content and exposure to artificial intelligence (AI) and automation (robots). Workers in occupations with high AI exposure perform different activities and face different skill requirements compared to workers in occupations exposed to robots. In a third step, the study uses individual labour market biographies to investigate the impact on wages between 2010 and 2017. Results indicate a wage growth premium in occupations more exposed to AI, contrasting with a wage growth discount in occupations exposed to robots. Finally, the study further explores the dynamic influence of AI exposure on individual wages over time, uncovering positive associations with wages, with nuanced variations across occupational groups.

Engberg, E., Koch, M., Lodefalk, M., & Schroeder, S. (2023). Artificial Intelligence Tasks Skills and Wages: Worker-Level Evidence from Germany. Ratio Working Paper No. 371.


Liknande innehåll

Working Paper No. 380: Artificial Intelligence, Hiring and Employment: Job Postings Evidence from Sweden
Working paperPublikation
Lodefalk, M.
Publiceringsår

2024

Publicerat i

Ratio Working Paper Series.

Sammanfattning

This paper investigates the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on hiring and employment, using the universe of job postings published by the Swedish Public Employment Service from 2014-2022 and universal register data for Sweden. We construct a detailed measure of AI exposure according to occupational content and find that establishments exposed to AI are more likely to hire AI workers. Survey data further indicate that AI exposure aligns with greater use of AI services. Importantly, rather than displacing non-AI workers, AI exposure is positively associated with increased hiring for both AI and non-AI roles. In the absence of substantial productivity gains that might account for this increase, we interpret the positive link between AI exposure and non-AI hiring as evidence that establishments are using AI to augment existing roles and expand task capabilities, rather than to replace non-AI workers.

Ratio Working Paper No. 377: Artificial Intelligence and Worker Stress: Evidence from Germany
Working paperPublikation
Koch, M., & Lodefalk, M.
Publiceringsår

2024

Publicerat i

Ratio Working Paper Series.

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.

Immigrant employment and the contract enforcement costs of offshoring
Artikel (med peer review)Publikation
Hatzigeorgiou, A., Karpaty, P., Kneller, R., & Lodefalk, M.
Publiceringsår

2024

Publicerat i

Review of World Economics, 1-29.

Sammanfattning

Offshoring continues to be an important dimension of firms’ internationalization choices. However, offshoring also increases contract enforcement costs by inhibiting the coordination and monitoring of performance. Immigrant employees may reduce such costs through their specific knowledge of the employer, their country of birth and access to foreign networks. In this paper, we investigate the role of immigrant employees within firms on firm offshoring, employing rich administrative Swedish microlevel data that include specific information about the characteristics of employees, manufacturing firms and their bilateral offshoring. Our results support the hypothesis that immigrant employees increase offshoring by lowering contract enforcement costs. Hiring one additional immigrant employee is linked to a relatively larger increase in offshoring at the intensive than the extensive margin, on average. The association to offshoring is considerably stronger for skilled immigrant employees and for contract and R&D intensive offshoring. Instrumental variable estimations demonstrate qualitatively similar results, while a placebo test with randomized immigrant employment does not generate any link between immigrants and offshoring.

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