Strong Links Between Automation and Inequality: Job-Replacing Tech Has Directly Driven the Income Gap Since the Late 1980s

Strong Links Between Automation and Inequality: Job-Replacing Tech Has Directly Driven the Income Gap Since the Late 1980s

New research by MIT economist Daron Acemoglu shows that since 1987, automation has taken away jobs from lower-skill workers without being replaced by an equivalent number of labor-market opportunities. Modern technology affects different workers in different ways. In some white-collar jobs — designer, engineer — people become more productive with sophisticated software at their side. In other cases, forms of automation, from robots to phone-answering systems, have simply replaced factory workers, receptionists, and many other kinds of employees.

Now a new study co-authored by an MIT economist suggests automation has a bigger impact on the labor market and income inequality […]

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