IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0331244.html

When automation hits jobs: Entrepreneurship as an alternative career path

Author

Listed:
  • Daehyun Kim
  • Taekyun Kim
  • Wonjoon Kim
  • Hyejin Youn

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between occupational automation risks and workers’ transitions to entrepreneurship using data from the Current Population Survey. We find that employees facing automation-related job displacement are inclined to shift toward unincorporated entrepreneurship, emphasizing entrepreneurship as a viable alternative career path. Noteworthy variations emerge when examining specific automation technologies, revealing a positive association between industrial robots and entrepreneurial transitions, whereas artificial intelligence displays a negative relationship. Gender disparities are observed, with female workers exhibiting a lower likelihood than males of transitioning into entrepreneurship. This study also shows a heightened prominence of entrepreneurial transitions during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. By illuminating entrepreneurship as a response to job displacement, our results offer crucial policy insights into the labor market implications of automation.

Suggested Citation

  • Daehyun Kim & Taekyun Kim & Wonjoon Kim & Hyejin Youn, 2025. "When automation hits jobs: Entrepreneurship as an alternative career path," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 20(9), pages 1-20, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0331244
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0331244
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0331244
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0331244&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0331244?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Goolsbee, Austan & Syverson, Chad, 2021. "Fear, lockdown, and diversion: Comparing drivers of pandemic economic decline 2020," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    2. Robert W. Fairlie & Frank M. Fossen, 2018. "Opportunity versus Necessity Entrepreneurship: Two Components of Business Creation," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 959, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    3. Melanie Arntz & Terry Gregory & Ulrich Zierahn, 2016. "The Risk of Automation for Jobs in OECD Countries: A Comparative Analysis," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 189, OECD Publishing.
    4. Südekum, Jens & Dauth, Wolfgang & Findeisen, Sebastian & Woessner, Nicole, 2017. "German Robots – The Impact of Industrial Robots on Workers," CEPR Discussion Papers 12306, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Alexandre Georgieff & Anna Milanez, 2021. "What happened to jobs at high risk of automation?," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 255, OECD Publishing.
    6. Dauth, Wolfgang & Findeisen, Sebastian & Südekum, Jens & Wößner, Nicole, 2017. "German robots - the impact of industrial robots on workers," IAB-Discussion Paper 201730, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    7. David Autor, 2014. "Polanyi's Paradox and the Shape of Employment Growth," NBER Working Papers 20485, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Ben Vermeulen & Jan Kesselhut & Andreas Pyka & Pier Paolo Saviotti, 2018. "The Impact of Automation on Employment: Just the Usual Structural Change?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-27, May.
    2. Damiani, Mirella & Pompei, Fabrizio & Kleinknecht, Alfred, 2020. "When robots do (not) enhance job quality: The role of innovation regimes," MPRA Paper 103059, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Lütkenhorst, Wilfried, 2018. "Creating wealth without labour? Emerging contours of a new techno-economic landscape," IDOS Discussion Papers 11/2018, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    4. Cristiano CODAGNONE & Giovanni LIVA & Egidijus BARCEVICIUS & Gianluca MISURACA & Luka KLIMAVICIUTE & Michele BENEDETTI & Irene VANINI & Giancarlo VECCHI & Emily RYEN GLOINSON & Katherine STEWART & Sti, 2020. "Assessing the impacts of digital government transformation in the EU: Conceptual framework and empirical case studies," JRC Research Reports JRC120865, Joint Research Centre.
    5. Montobbio, Fabio & Staccioli, Jacopo & Virgillito, Maria Enrica & Vivarelli, Marco, 2022. "Robots and the origin of their labour-saving impact," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    6. Dario Cords & Klaus Prettner, 2022. "Technological unemployment revisited: automation in a search and matching framework [The future of work: meeting the global challenges of demographic change and automation]," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 74(1), pages 115-135.
    7. Sun, Wenyuan & Zhang, Zhonghui & Chen, Yang & Luan, Fushu, 2023. "Heterogeneous effects of robots on employment in agriculture, industry, and services sectors," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    8. Guendalina Anzolin, 2021. "Automation and its Employment Effects: A Literature Review of Automotive and Garment Sectors," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2021-16, Joint Research Centre.
    9. Damioli, G. & Van Roy, V. & Vertesy, D. & Vivarelli, M., 2021. "May AI revolution be labour-friendly? Some micro evidence from the supply side," GLO Discussion Paper Series 823, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    10. BARCEVICIUS Egidijus & CIBAITE Guonda & CODAGNONE Cristiano & GINEIKYTE Vaida & KLIMAVICIUTE Luka & LIVA Giovanni & MATULEVIC Loreta & MISURACA Gianluca & VANINI Irene, 2019. "Exploring Digital Government transformation in the EU," JRC Research Reports JRC118857, Joint Research Centre.
    11. Naude, Wim, 2019. "The race against the robots and the fallacy of the giant cheesecake: Immediate and imagined impacts of artificial intelligence," MERIT Working Papers 2019-005, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    12. Arntz, Melanie & Gregory, Terry & Zierahn-Weilage, Ulrich, 2019. "Digitalization and the Future of Work: Macroeconomic Consequences," IZA Discussion Papers 12428, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Martin Labaj & Materj Vitalos, 2019. "Automation and labor demand in European countries: A task-based approach to wage bill decomposition," Department of Economic Policy Working Paper Series 021, Department of Economic Policy, Faculty of National Economy, University of Economics in Bratislava.
    14. Fossen, Frank M. & Sorgner, Alina, 2019. "New Digital Technologies and Heterogeneous Employment and Wage Dynamics in the United States: Evidence from Individual-Level Data," IZA Discussion Papers 12242, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Zhang, Xinchun & Sun, Murong & Liu, Jianxu & Xu, Aijia, 2024. "The nexus between industrial robot and employment in China: The effects of technology substitution and technology creation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    16. Baumüller, Heike & Kubik, Zaneta & Getahun, Tigabu D., 2023. "Mechanization, automation and jobs in Africa’s agroprocessing sector: Insights from Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa," 2023 Seventh AAAE/60th AEASA Conference, September 18-21, 2023, Durban, South Africa 365925, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    17. Benhamou, Salima, 2022. "Les transformations du travail et de l’emploi à l’ère de l’Intelligence artificielle: Évaluation, illustrations et interrogations," Documentos de Proyectos 48529, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    18. Dengler, Katharina & Matthes, Britta, 2018. "The impacts of digital transformation on the labour market: Substitution potentials of occupations in Germany," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 304-316.
    19. Zoltan Csefalvay, 2019. "What are the policy options? A systematic review of policy responses to the impacts of robotisation and automation on the labour market," JRC Working Papers on Corporate R&D and Innovation 2019-02, Joint Research Centre.
    20. Maarten Goos & Melanie Arntz & Ulrich Zierahn & Terry Gregory & Stephanie Carretero Gomez & Ignacio Gonzalez Vazquez & Koen Jonkers, 2019. "The Impact of Technological Innovation on the Future of Work," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2019-03, Joint Research Centre.

    More about this item

    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:plo:pone00:0331244. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.