Research projects

Theaim of this project has been to determine the effect of technology and international trade on working conditions in Europe. The results of the research focused on the consequences of robot adoption because of problems due to data quality, are several ones. Firstly, product, process and organizational innovations at the firm level are associated to a higher degree of job quality. Secondly, the effects of robotization on employment figures are less negative than what previous literature, focused on the United States, suggests and it critically depends on the econometric specification. In the third place, we find that robot adoption has had a negative impact on job associated to work intensity variables over the period 1995-2005, but no significant effect on physical risks or skills and discretion. Finally, we explore the gender gap in working conditions in Europe over the period 2005-2015. We find a that women face a penalty in terms of skills and discretion and work prospects, but they enjoy better outcomes regarding physical risks and work intensity. Furthermore, we observe that there is a process of β-convergence in terms of the gender gap in job quality across the European Union in all the dimensions considered.