S4 Ep21: Robots: Positive or negative for EU employment?

Technological advancements continue to drive change in every
industry. In a recent working paper co-written with Francesco
Chiacchio and David Pichler, Bruegel research fellow Georgios
Petropoulos has explored the impact of the increasing number of
robots on employment and wages in Europe.


The introduction of robots constitutes only one industrial
advance among many, and each automated technology has different
impacts on employment. The impacts across social strata can also
be disparate.


In this episode of ‘The Sound of Economics’, Georgios Petropoulos
discusses the findings of his study, which focuses on six EU
countries (Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden) that
account for 85% of robots in the EU market. Specifically this
work sought to answer the question of whether robots have a
positive or negative effect on EU employment and wages, and to
place its conclusions in the context of other studies of
automated technologies and their consequences for labour.


The research pertinent to this podcast can be found in our
publication: ‘The impact of industrial robots on EU employment
and wages: A local labour market approach’. Meanwhile, Georgios
Petropoulos has previously detailed the specifics of the growing
presence of robots in EU industries in a Bruegel blog post.


He has also written an article questioning whether we understand
the impact of artificial intelligence on employment. Elsewhere, a
number of Bruegel scholars have collaborated on our Blueprint
book of research: ‘Remaking Europe: the new manufacturing as an
engine for growth’. This comprehensive study looks at how well
European firms are responding to new opportunities for growth,
and in which global value chains they are developing new
activities.