AI'S IMPACT ON US EMPLOYMENT: Automation hits low-skill workers hard, service sector vulnerable, widening socioeconomic divide
A new CEPR study by Alessandra Bonfiglioli, Rosario Crinò ,Gino Gancia and Ioannis Papadakis explores the effect of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on employment across US commuting zones over the period 2000-2020. Using s a novel measure of AI adoption based on the growth of AI-related jobs and a shift-share empirical strategy to identify causal effects, the athors estimate robust negative effects of AI exposure on employment. The research finds that AI’s impact is different from other forms of capital and technologies, such as robots or ICT, and that it works through services more than manufacturing. Moreover, the employment effect is especially negative for low-skill and production workers, while it turns positive for workers at the top of the wage distribution. Overall, these results are consistent with the view that AI, so far, has contributed to the automation of jobs and to widen inequality.