{"title":"Do industrial robots affect the labour market? Evidence from China","authors":"Lihua Zhang, Tian Gan, Jiachen Fan","doi":"10.1111/ecot.12356","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The industrial robot is an essential part of modern manufacturing. Using micro-level data, this study investigates the effects of industrial robots on the labour market in China. The results show that the adoption of industrial robots increases firm-level employment by 31.65%. Using the Bartik method, we construct robot penetration as an instrumental variable of robot adoption to tackle endogenous problems. Our results stand up to a series of robustness checks. Moreover, the effects of robots are mainly owing to the expansion of the output scale, increased productivity, and upgraded products. We also find the skill-biased impact of robots and the spillover effect of industrial robots through production networks.</p>","PeriodicalId":40265,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Transition and Institutional Change","volume":"31 3","pages":"787-817"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"5","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Economics of Transition and Institutional Change","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecot.12356","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 5
Abstract
The industrial robot is an essential part of modern manufacturing. Using micro-level data, this study investigates the effects of industrial robots on the labour market in China. The results show that the adoption of industrial robots increases firm-level employment by 31.65%. Using the Bartik method, we construct robot penetration as an instrumental variable of robot adoption to tackle endogenous problems. Our results stand up to a series of robustness checks. Moreover, the effects of robots are mainly owing to the expansion of the output scale, increased productivity, and upgraded products. We also find the skill-biased impact of robots and the spillover effect of industrial robots through production networks.