Automation, Work Design, and Job Quality: Empirical Evidence

Abstract

We investigate how automation of cognitively demanding tasks in work design (“technological deskilling”) raises worker welfare and reduces labor costs in two settings. Ride-hail drivers navigate and drive. Navigation systems automate the cognitively demanding task. Drivers valued navigation systems at 6.8 percent of their income, and, absent navigation systems, drivers were 19.5 percent less likely to work. Supermarket cashiers scan purchases and collect payments. Consumer self-payment systems automate the cognitively demanding task of collecting payments. Cashiers valued automated payments at 3.7 percent of wages and they increased labor supply by 11 percent. By increasing job quality and labor supply, technological deskilling underpins a low-cost strategy.