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"This paper addresses the role of technology in shaping worker-level task prices, exploiting within-occupation variation using a unique survey linked to administrative data for over 180,000 Dutch workers between 2014 and 2020. Nonroutine and interactive tasks are related to wage premia, and routine tasks to wage penalties. However, these task returns vary according to exposure to the types of (new) technology, such as computers, robots, and artificial intelligence. Overall, wages are higher in technology-intensive industries, but newer technologies target non-routine tasks differently. This may have profound implications for the nonroutine wage premium given the rise of artificial intelligence."

This work is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

"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."

This work is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

"This research examines the differentiated regional exposure to new technologies across Europe. Over the past 40 years, biased technological change, particularly the rise of computer technologies, has led to declining employment in routine occupations, with varying local impacts; some regions benefit, while other struggle. Recent adoption of AI-technologies will likely bring equally significant and regionally varied employment effects. With this as a backdrop, we assess regional exposure to AI, software, and robots by linking occupation-level exposure measures to NUTS-2 regions. Using data from the European Union Labour Force Survey, we show that i) AI exposure is particularly high in high-skilled regions and Robots and Software exposure in low- and middle educated areas and ii) that there are stark differences between Western/Northern regions and Eastern/Southern regions in the EU with the latter typically showing greater exposure to technology."
This work is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

"We are the first to examine the impact of robotization on work meaningfulness and autonomy, competence, and relatedness, which are key for motivation and human flourishing at work. Using worker-level data from 13 industries in 20 European countries and OLS and instrumental variables estimations, we find that industry-level robotization harms all work quality aspects except competence. We also examine the moderating role of routine and cognitive tasks, skills and education, and age and gender. While we do not find evidence of moderation concerning work meaningfulness in any of our models, noteworthy differences emerge for autonomy. For instance, workers with repetitive and monotonous tasks drive the negative effects of robotization on autonomy, while social tasks and working with computers - a tool that provides worker independence - help workers derive autonomy and competence in industries and jobs that adopt robots. In addition, robotization increases the competence perceptions of men. Our results highlight that by deteriorating the opportunities to derive meaning and self-determination out of work, robotization will impact the present and the future of work above and beyond its consequences for employment and wages."

"Using survey data from 20 European countries, we construct novel worker-level indices of routine, abstract, social, and physical tasks across 20 European countries, which we combine with industry-level robotization exposure. Our conceptual framework builds on the insight that robotization simultaneously replaces, creates, and modifies workers' tasks and studies how these forces impact workers' job content. We rely on instrumental variable techniques and show that robotization reduces physically demanding activities. Yet, this reduction in manual work does not coincide with a shift to more challenging and interesting tasks. Instead, robotization makes workers' tasks more routine, while diminishing the opportunities for cognitively challenging work and human contact. The adverse impact of robotization on social tasks is particularly pronounced for highly skilled and educated workers. Our study offers a unique worker-centric viewpoint on the interplay between technology and tasks, highlighting nuances that macro-level indicators overlook. As such, it sheds light on the mechanisms underpinning the impact of robotization on labor markets."