Labor Demand in the Past, Present, and Future

Georg Graetz

No 114, European Economy - Discussion Papers from Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission

Abstract: Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, technological change has led to the automation of existing tasks and the creation of new ones, as well as the reallocation of labour across occupations and industries. These processes have been costly to individual workers, but labour demand has remained strong, and real wages have steadily increased in line with productivity growth. I provide evidence suggesting, however, that in recent decades automation has outpaced the creation of new tasks and thus the demand for labour has declined. There is strong disagreement about the future of labour demand, and predictions about technological breakthroughs have a poor track record. Given the importance of overall labour demand for workers’ standard of living as well as their ability to adjust to a changing labour market, obtaining accurate forecasts should be a priority for policy makers.

JEL-codes: J23 O30 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42 pages
Date: 2019-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/publications/ ... resent-and-future_en (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Labor demand in the past, present and future (2020)
Working Paper: Labor Demand in the Past, Present and Future (2020)
Working Paper: Labor demand in the past, present and future (2020)
Working Paper: Labor Demand in the Past, Present, and Future (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:euf:dispap:114

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