Automation and robots

In this line of research, the JRC Employment and Skills team has used statistical data on industrial robots to better understand their impact on employment, skills, job quality and productivity. Contrary to some popular beliefs, the existing statistical evidence on robots suggests that they are a highly specialised automation technology with a limited impact on employment in Europe. Industrial robots are mostly used in car manufacturing, metal products and plastics, and they perform repetitive handling and object manipulation tasks which were in many cases highly automated many decades ago. The installation of industrial robots is often positively rather than negatively associated with employment, although the impact is small and can differ by period and level of analysis. On the other hand, robots are clearly associated with increases in productivity. In terms of job quality, the only measurable impact is an increase in work intensity for those working with robots. 

There is already a significant amount of evidence on automation and its effects in the manufacturing sector, but what about services? After all, in most developed economies more than two thirds of employment is in services, so if automation is to have large effects in the near future, it will have to be in this sector. But there is surprisingly limited evidence on the extent and impact of automation in services, to a large extent because there is very limited automation in services. A detailed review of the existing data on robots in services reveals that their penetration is currently very low in the European economy, especially when compared to industrial robots. Moreover, service robots are used most often for manual repetitive tasks, in parts of the service sector that are most similar to manufacturing, such as logistics, inspection and maintenance, and surface cleaning. 

Since automation is so limited in services, but expected to grow, a different approach is required to shed some light on potential future developments. For this reason the JRC commissioned case studies of automation in the service sector (in logistics, cleaning, and health). The analysis of more than 50 interviews complemented with visits to the companies and desk research on business documents shows that labour displacement due to the adoption of automation technologies is not yet in place in the service sector, while tasks and organizational reconfiguration appear more widespread. Overall, the analysis confirms the complexity in automating presumably low-value-added phases of service sector work: human labour remains crucial in conducting activities that require flexibility, adaptability and reconfiguration of physical tasks. 

This strand of work studies the effects of automation from a global perspective with a focus on job quality and gender. The project, developed in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), involved case studies in the automotive and garment sectors, in three European (Germany, Romania and Spain) and three non-European countries (Mexico, Indonesia and South Africa). Findings suggest that, in the short term, close to the introduction of new automation technology, the impact on employment takes the form of reassignment of workers directly involved in automated processes to other positions, tasks, and occupations. Across the case studies, it emerged that the adoption of automation technologies has reduced heavy and repetitive tasks and improved health and safety for workers directly concerned by automation, although we show evidence of a reduction of workers’ autonomy who are now subject to more standardisation of tasks together with an ongoing process of deskilling of operators. Finally, in the apparel and footwear sector, we did not find evidence of defeminisation at the establishment level as well as the automotive factories remains highly male-dominated.

Publications

• Employment 
• Job tasks, work organisation and the EU Tasks Database 

JRC-P21-EDU-SKILLS-EMPLec [dot] europa [dot] eu (JRC-P21-EDU-SKILLS-EMPL[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)