What is the impact of job automation on the wage gap?

Researchers from the Massechusets Institute of Technology (MIT) have for the first time examined the impact of job automation on the wage gap. The results are remarkable.

More and more intelligent devices are moving into our households. For example, we use our smartphones to order products online, vacuum cleaner robots ensure cleanliness and AI brokers invest shares for us. But what impact does this have on the job market? Scientists at the Massechusets Institute of Technology (MIT) have investigated this.

A corresponding study is limited to the United States, but some findings can also be transferred to other countries. Overall, the picture that emerged was that technology creates a pay gap between men and women, but also creates a wage imbalance more generally.

What is the impact of automation on the wage gap?

Because higher productivity is not always the focus of automation. The study cites self-service checkouts as an example. The process is not necessarily faster and more effective than with a human cashier. Nevertheless, labor costs can be saved. As a result, the job is increasingly lost.

However, this is a problem for people with a low level of education. In addition, the income gap between academics and people with a low level of education is widening. According to the study, half of this can be attributed to the automation of jobs and tasks, which does not necessarily lead to an increase in productivity.

Loss of salary: Men are more affected than women

Men are therefore more affected than women. Because since 1980, the wages of men without a university degree in the USA have fallen by around 8.8 percent. For women it was only 2.3 percent. The values ​​are already adjusted for inflation. With their publication, the researchers want to appeal to our sense of justice.

In the future, employers should therefore check whether their automation approaches are actually productive or just eliminate jobs. Because it is our responsibility as a society to also offer those who do not come from a university or college a chance.

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