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We study the firm-level implications of robot adoption in France. Of 55,390 firms in our sample, 598 adopted robots between 2010 and 2015, but these firms accounted for 20 percent of manufacturing employment. Adopters experienced significant declines in labor shares, the share of production workers in employment, and increases in value added and productivity. They expand their overall employment as well. However, this expansion comes at the expense of competitors, leading to an overall negative association between adoption and employment. Robot adoption has a large impact on the labor share because adopters are larger and grow faster than their competitors.
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Disparities in robot adoption among U.S. manufacturers: a critical economic development challenge
The growing recognition of industrial robots as a source of innovation and competitiveness for manufacturing is motivating calls for a supportive industrial ecology and policy framework. However, little is known about factors that stimulate robot adoption at the firm level. Based on survey results of 428 manufacturing establishments, this study examines 1) the current diffusion of robotics in manufacturing and 2) establishment- and region-level characteristics associated with robot adoption. Our analysis shows that while earlier robot adopters were mainly large establishments in the automotive sector, robots are now penetrating small- and medium-sized establishments and other sectors. Furthermore, being in a region with a large pool of existing robot users and robot-related skilled labour positively affects establishments’ decisions on robot adoption. These trends suggest cumulative advantages (and disadvantages) regarding technology upgrading and a need for policies that can encourage wider adoption of robots.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2024706
- PAR ID:
- 10350121
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Industry and Innovation
- ISSN:
- 1366-2716
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 20
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1080/13662716.2021.2007757
