IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/128375.html

How different uses of AI shape labor demand: evidence from France

Author

Listed:
  • Aghion, Philippe
  • Bunel, Simon
  • Jaravel, Xavier
  • Mikaelsen, Thomas
  • Roulet, Alexandra
  • Søgaard, Jakob

Abstract

Using French firm-level data on AI adoption from 2017-2020, we find that, first, firms adopting AI are larger and more productive and skill intensive. Second, difference-in-difference estimates reveal an increase in firm-level employment and sales after AI adoption, suggesting that the induced productivity gains allow firms to grow and outweigh potential displacement effects. Third, occupations classified in recent work as substitutable with AI expand. Fourth, AI usage is a relevant dimension of heterogeneity in the labor demand response: We find positive employment growth for certain uses (e.g., information and communications technology security) and negative for others (e.g., administrative processes).

Suggested Citation

  • Aghion, Philippe & Bunel, Simon & Jaravel, Xavier & Mikaelsen, Thomas & Roulet, Alexandra & Søgaard, Jakob, 2025. "How different uses of AI shape labor demand: evidence from France," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 128375, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:128375
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/128375/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jay Dixon & Bryan Hong & Lynn Wu, 2021. "The Robot Revolution: Managerial and Employment Consequences for Firms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5586-5605, September.
    2. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2018. "The Race between Man and Machine: Implications of Technology for Growth, Factor Shares, and Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(6), pages 1488-1542, June.
    3. Daron Acemoglu & David Autor & Jonathon Hazell & Pascual Restrepo, 2022. "Artificial Intelligence and Jobs: Evidence from Online Vacancies," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(S1), pages 293-340.
    4. Domini, Giacomo & Grazzi, Marco & Moschella, Daniele & Treibich, Tania, 2021. "Threats and opportunities in the digital era: Automation spikes and employment dynamics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    5. Carlo Pizzinelli & Augustus J Panton & Ms. Marina Mendes Tavares & Mauro Cazzaniga & Longji Li, 2023. "Labor Market Exposure to AI: Cross-country Differences and Distributional Implications," IMF Working Papers 2023/216, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Storm, Eduard & Gonschor, Myrielle & Schmidt, Marc Justin, 2025. "AI in demand: How expertise shapes its (early) impact on workers," Ruhr Economic Papers 1185, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    2. Gustavo de Souza, 2025. "Artificial Intelligence in the Office and the Factory: Evidence from Administrative Software Registry Data," Working Paper Series WP 2025-11, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    3. gert Bijnens & Joep Konings & Aaron Putseys, 2025. "Unveiling the J-curve: How Intangibles Drive Productivity Mismeasurement," Working Papers of VIVES - Research Centre for Regional Economics 779815, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), VIVES - Research Centre for Regional Economics.
    4. Thao Trang Nguyen & Giacomo Domini & Marco Grazzi & Daniele Moschella & Tania Treibich, 2025. "Automation and the Margins of Export Performance: Evidence from French Firms," LEM Papers Series 2025/37, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.

    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. Zhou, Yuwen & Shi, Xin, 2025. "How does digital technology adoption affect corporate employment? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    2. Tiziano Ropele & Alex Tagliabracci, 2026. "The economic impact of artificial intelligence: evidence from Italian firms," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 1005, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    3. Chun, Hyunbae & Shin, Donghan, 2025. "Beyond automation: The multifaceted impact of advanced digital technologies on employment dynamics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(10).
    4. Ciaschi, Matias & Falcone, Guillermo & Garganta, Santiago & Gasparini, Leonardo & Bertín, Octavio & Ramírez-Leira, Lucía, 2025. "The Potential Distributive Impact of AI-driven Labor Changes in Latin America," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 14253, Inter-American Development Bank.
    5. Borsato, Andrea & Lorentz, André, 2023. "The Kaldor–Verdoorn law at the age of robots and AI," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(10).
    6. Radeef Chundakkadan & Subash Sasidharan & Kausik Chaudhuri, 2025. "Automation, firm performance, and employment: Evidence from developing countries," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 35(5), pages 873-900, November.
    7. Yuan, Bo & Sun, Pengbo, 2024. "Does the high-tech foreign investment spark robot adoption in the developing world? Evidence from China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 302-314.
    8. Zhou, Huilin & Wang, Linhui & Cao, Yutong & Li, Jincheng, 2025. "The impact of artificial intelligence on labor market: A study based on bibliometric analysis," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    9. Tiedtke, Julian, 2024. "Unveiling the Job-Creating and Destroying Effects of Automation through the Lense of Heterogeneity," VfS Annual Conference 2024 (Berlin): Upcoming Labor Market Challenges 302375, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    10. Yoon, Chungeun, 2023. "Technology adoption and jobs: The effects of self-service kiosks in restaurants on labor outcomes," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    11. Gao, Jie & Li, Zhizhuo & Nguyen, Thithuha & Zhang, Wentao, 2025. "Digital transformation and enterprise employment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    12. Hakan Yilmazkuday, 2025. "Artificial intelligence and labor markets: evidence from google trends," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 49(4), pages 1078-1093, December.
    13. Marydas, Sneha & Mathew, Nanditha & De Marzo, Giordano & Pietrobelli, Carlo, 2025. "Digital Technologies, Hiring, Training, and Firm Outcomes," MERIT Working Papers 2025-004, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    14. Enrico Maria Fenoaltea & Dario Mazzilli & Aurelio Patelli & Angelica Sbardella & Andrea Tacchella & Andrea Zaccaria & Marco Trombetti & Luciano Pietronero, 2024. "Follow the money: a startup-based measure of AI exposure across occupations, industries and regions," Papers 2412.04924, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2024.
    15. Caselli, Mauro & Fracasso, Andrea & Scicchitano, Sergio & Traverso, Silvio & Tundis, Enrico, 2025. "What workers and robots do: An activity-based analysis of the impact of robotization on changes in local employment," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(1).
    16. Cao, Sean & Jiang, Wei & Wang, Junbo & Yang, Baozhong, 2024. "From Man vs. Machine to Man + Machine: The art and AI of stock analyses," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    17. Wang, Linlin & Liu, Chun & Liu, Ding & Zhang, Yi, 2025. "Beyond jobs and wages: The hidden cost of automation on corporate social security contributions," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    18. 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).
    19. Anastasios Evgenidis & Apostolos Fasianos, 2025. "AI news shocks and the macroeconomy: evidence from UK patent data," IFS Working Papers W25/48, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    20. Davide Antonioli & Alberto Marzucchi & Francesco Rentocchini & Simone Vannuccini, 2022. "Robot Adoption and Innovation Activities (last revised: December 2023)," Munich Papers in Political Economy 21, Munich School of Politics and Public Policy and the School of Management at the Technical University of Munich.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ehl:lserod:128375. 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: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    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.