Automation and Vulnerability of Migrant Housholds in Terms of Risk of Technology-Induced Job Loss

Vegard Skirbekk, FHI
Marcin Stonawski, Center for Advanced Studies of Population and Religion (CASPAR) / DST

Contemporary labour markets in Western countries are characterized by both automation trends and high levels of migration. In Europe, depopulation, ageing populations, high levels of education and rapid technological change are coinciding with high immigration. Migrants from outside Europe predominantly occupy jobs that are susceptible to replacement as a result of automation in the near future. Consequently, these individuals are at a heightened risk of unemployment and may inadvertently impose an additional burden on the host society, rather than providing a solution to the issue. It is therefore important to ascertain whether this elevated individual risk is mitigated at the household level. For example, the consequences of losing one's job may be less severe if one's partner is employed in a secure position, and more significant if one is the primary income provider with numerous dependents. The study focuses on evaluation of the risk of technological-induced job loss among migrants, based on individual data from Danish registers using the degree of job’s routine task intensity. The data allow us to assess both individual and household vulnerability to technological change and create a typology in this respect. The preliminary findings indicate considerable diversity with regard to the risk of job loss.

Keywords: Migrant Populations and Refugees, Human Capital, Education, and Work, Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination

See extended abstract.