IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-23-00535.html

COVID-19 and automation: Evidence from European countries

Author

Listed:
  • Martin Lábaj

    (University of Economics in Bratislava)

  • Matej Vitáloš

    (University of Economics in Bratislava)

Abstract

We add new empirical evidence on the link between COVID-19, job losses and automation. This is the first analysis using European data covering the period up to August 2022. We first show that during the second and third year of the pandemic, workers in automatable occupations were more likely to lose their job. However, this effect disappears after accounting for the fact that workers at high risk of automation were more likely to lose their job even before COVID-19. Our results differ from those of other empirical studies and indicate that the declared intentions of firms to automate production due to COVID-19 may not have materialized, as we find no acceleration in job losses of automatable workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Lábaj & Matej Vitáloš, 2024. "COVID-19 and automation: Evidence from European countries," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 44(1), pages 112-121.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-23-00535
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2024/Volume44/EB-24-V44-I1-P10.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dingel, Jonathan I. & Neiman, Brent, 2020. "How many jobs can be done at home?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    2. Leonardo Bonilla-Mejía & Luz A. Florez & Didier Hermida & Francisco Lasso & Leonardo Fabio Morales & Juan Jose Ospina & José Pulido, 2023. "Is the COVID-19 Pandemic Fast-Tracking Automation in Developing Countries? Evidence from Colombia," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(4), pages 593-616.
    3. Guillermo Gallacher & Iqbal Hossain, 2020. "Remote Work and Employment Dynamics under COVID-19: Evidence from Canada," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 46(S1), pages 44-54, July.
    4. Bellatin, Alejandra & Galassi, Gabriela, 2022. "What COVID-19 May Leave Behind: Technology-Related Job Postings in Canada," IZA Discussion Papers 15209, IZA Network @ LISER.
    5. Coombs, Crispin, 2020. "Will COVID-19 be the tipping point for the Intelligent Automation of work? A review of the debate and implications for research," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alejandra Bellatin & Gabriela Galassi, 2022. "What COVID-19 May Leave Behind: Technology-Related Job Postings in Canada," Staff Working Papers 22-17, Bank of Canada.
    2. Pierre Brochu & Jonathan Crechet, 2022. "Survey Non-Response in COVID-19 Times: The Case of the Labour Force Survey," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 48(3), pages 451-472, September.
    3. Cristina Constantinescu & Arti Grover & Gaurav Nayyar, 2026. "Digitalization, Remote Work and Firm Resilience: Evidence From the COVID‐19 Shock," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 52-72, January.
    4. Isaure Delaporte & Julia Escobar & Werner Peña, 2021. "The distributional consequences of social distancing on poverty and labour income inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(4), pages 1385-1443, October.
    5. Oikonomou, Myrto & Pierri, Nicola & Timmer, Yannick, 2023. "IT shields: Technology adoption and economic resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    6. Martyna Joanna Surma & Richard Joseph Nunes & Caroline Rook & Angela Loder, 2021. "Assessing Employee Engagement in a Post-COVID-19 Workplace Ecosystem," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-20, October.
    7. Amanda Davies, 2021. "COVID-19 and ICT-Supported Remote Working: Opportunities for Rural Economies," World, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-14, March.
    8. Jiaming Soh & Myrto Oikonomou & Carlo Pizzinelli & Ippei Shibata & Marina M. Tavares, 2025. "Did the Covid-19 Recession Increase the Demand for Digital Occupations in the USA? Evidence from Employment and Vacancies Data," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 73(1), pages 316-337, March.
    9. Crowley, Frank & Daly, Hannah & Doran, Justin & Ryan, Geraldine & Caulfield, Brian, 2021. "The impact of labour market disruptions and transport choice on the environment during COVID-19," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 185-195.
    10. Folinas, Sotiris & Duquenne, Marie - Noelle & Metaxas, Theodore, 2020. "Opportunities in the Hospitality Industry in a masked, and rubber-gloved world," MPRA Paper 105584, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 03 Jun 2020.
    11. Crowley, Frank & Doran, Justin & Ryan, Geraldine, 2020. "The impact of Covid-19 restrictions on workers: Who is most exposed?," SRERC Working Paper Series SRERCWP2020-3, University College Cork (UCC), Spatial and Regional Economic Research Centre (SRERC).
    12. Couch, Kenneth A. & Fairlie, Robert W. & Xu, Huanan, 2020. "Early evidence of the impacts of COVID-19 on minority unemployment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    13. Jacek Rothert, 2020. "Optimal federal redistribution during the uncoordinated response to a pandemic," Departmental Working Papers 64, United States Naval Academy Department of Economics.
    14. Piotr Lewandowski & Katarzyna Lipowska & Mateusz Smoter, 2022. "Working from home during a pandemic – a discrete choice experiment in Poland," IBS Working Papers 03/2022, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    15. Lee, Munseob & Finerman, Rachel, 2021. "COVID-19, commuting flows, and air quality," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    16. Bart Roelofs & Dimitris Ballas & Hinke Haisma & Arjen Edzes, 2022. "Spatial mobility patterns and COVID‐19 incidence: A regional analysis of the second wave in the Netherlands," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(S1), pages 21-40, November.
    17. Piotr Lewandowski & Katarzyna Lipowska & Mateusz Smoter, 2026. "Mismatch in Preferences for Working from Home: Evidence from Discrete Choice Experiments with Workers and Employers," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 79(1), pages 142-172, January.
    18. Jinwon Kim & Jucheol Moon & Dongyun Yang, 2024. "Pigouvian Congestion Tolls and the Welfare Gain: Estimates for California Freeways," Working Papers 2402, Nam Duck-Woo Economic Research Institute, Sogang University (Former Research Institute for Market Economy).
    19. David Baqaee & Emmanuel Farhi, 2020. "Nonlinear Production Networks with an Application to the Covid-19 Crisis," NBER Working Papers 27281, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. de la Vega, Pablo & Porto, Natalia & Cerimelo, Manuela, 2024. "Going green: estimating the potential of green jobs in Argentina," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 58, pages 1-001.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-23-00535. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.