Robots and the gender pay gap in Europe

Aksoy, Cevat Giray, Özcan, Berkay ORCID: 0000-0003-2255-9406 and Philipp, Julia (2021) Robots and the gender pay gap in Europe. European Economic Review, 134. ISSN 0014-2921

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Abstract

Could robotization make the gender pay gap worse? We provide the first large-scale evidence on the impact of industrial robots on the gender pay gap using data from 20 European countries. We show that robot adoption increases both male and female earnings but also increases the gender pay gap. Using an instrumental variable strategy, we find that a ten percent increase in robotization leads to a 1.8% increase in the gender pay gap. These results are driven by countries with high initial levels of gender inequality and can be explained by the fact that men at medium- and high-skill occupations disproportionately benefit from robotization, through a productivity effect. We rule out the possibility that our results are driven by mechanical changes in the gender composition of the workforce.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.journals.elsevier.com/european-economi...
Additional Information:	© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
Divisions:	Social Policy
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
JEL classification:	J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J0 - General > J00 - General J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J31 - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials by Skill, Training, Occupation, etc. J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J7 - Labor Discrimination > J71 - Discrimination
Date Deposited:	15 Mar 2021 10:42
Last Modified:	17 Apr 2024 04:57
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/109006

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