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“Forced Automation” by COVID-19? Early Trends from Current Population Survey Data

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  • Lei Ding
  • Julieth Saenz Molina

Abstract

This empirical study evaluates whether COVID-19 and the threat of future pandemics has expedited the process of automation in the U.S. The results suggest that the pandemic displaced more workers in automatable occupations, putting them at a greater risk of being permanently automated. The automatable jobs that are more vulnerable to the pandemic include jobs that do not permit remote work, have a high risk of COVID-19 transmission, or are in the most affected sectors. While most of the job losses during the pandemic are expected to be temporary, a replication of the analysis for the Great Recession suggests the losses of automatable jobs could become permanent during the recovery. The pandemic also hit automatable jobs held by minority workers particularly hard, increasing the risk of permanent job losses for these workers who are already vulnerable in the job market

Suggested Citation

  • Lei Ding & Julieth Saenz Molina, 2020. "“Forced Automation” by COVID-19? Early Trends from Current Population Survey Data," Community Affairs Discussion Paper 88713, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedpcd:88713
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    Cited by:

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    2. Patricia Albulescu & Irina Macsinga & Andrei Rusu & Coralia Sulea & Alexandra Bodnaru & Bogdan Tudor Tulbure, 2022. ""Give me a break!" A systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy of micro-breaks for increasing well-being and performance," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(8), pages 1-27, August.

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