Abstract
Automation transforms work at a rapid pace, with gradually increasing shares of the workforce being at risk of replacement by machines. However, little is known about how this risk is affecting workers. In this study, we investigate the impact of high risk of automation at work on subjective (self-reported health, anxiety, and health satisfaction) and objective (healthcare use and sickness absence) health outcomes of workers in Germany. We build our analysis on the survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and administrative data from the Occupational Panel for Germany (2013-2018). Employing panel regression, we demonstrate that exposure to high risk of automation at the occupational level worsens self-reported health and health satisfaction of workers and increases their sickness absence and, depending on how the risk is measured, anxiety. No effect is found on healthcare use. We also conduct several robustness checks with results remaining mostly consistent with our main findings, while uncovering some heterogeneity in effects among the analyzed groups.
Presenters
Mariia VasiakinaEU-Researcher, Labor Demography Research Group, Max-Planck-Institute for Demographic Research, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Automation Risk, Routine Tasks, Health Outcomes, GSOEP, Germany
