Just another cog in the machine? A worker-level view of robotization and tasks

Abstract

Technological change has led to a decline in the share of routine and physical jobs, and a rise in the share of abstract and social ones at the economy level. However, much less is known about how these trends unfold at the individual level. Do workers' tasks become more or less routine and physical? Do workers shift towards more social and abstract activities? This paper is the first to explore these questions in the context of robotization. We use survey data from 20 European countries to develop worker-level indices of physical, routine, abstract and social tasks, which we link to industry-level robotization exposure. Using instrumental variable techniques, we find that robotization reduces physically demanding tasks but increases routine tasks, while also limiting opportunities for cognitively challenging work and human interaction. This study provides a worker-centric perspective on the relationship between technology and task composition, revealing insights that aggregate analyses miss.