Artificial intelligence and jobs: evidence from US commuting zones
Alessandra Bonfiglioli, Rosario Crinò, Gino Gancia, Ioannis S. Papadakis · Economic Policy · 22 Nov 2024
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Where this sits in the debate
- Will AI destroy more jobs than it creates? · its finding supports the claim (why studies differ)
Direction of the finding as read from the abstract by an AI model (AI-written).
Abstract
Abstract We study the effect of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on employment across US commuting zones (CZs) over the period 2000–2020. A simple model shows that AI can automate jobs or complement workers, and illustrates how to estimate its effect by exploiting variation in a novel measure of local exposure to AI: job growth in AI-related professions built from detailed occupational data. Using a shift-share instrument that combines industry-level AI adoption with local industry employment, we estimate robust negative effects of AI exposure on employment across CZs and time. We find that AI’s impact is different from other capital and technologies, and that it works through services more than manufacturing. Moreover, the employment effect is especially negative for low-skill and production workers, while it turns positive for workers at the top of the wage distribution and for those in STEM occupations. These results are consistent with the view that AI has contributed to the automation of jobs and to widen inequality.
About this publication
Leading field journal. A leading journal in economics or a neighbouring field (on the Tinbergen Institute’s A list or near the top of the RePEc ranking), or a top-rated computer-science venue.
Placed by: Leading field journal. How sources are ranked.
- Published
- 2024 (23 months ago)
- Citations
- 69 (OpenAlex)
Citations in context
69 citations — 78th percentile among the 23 indexed papers from 2024 in this collection. Citation counts favor older papers; this compares only same-year papers here, not the whole literature.
□ added to this collection in 2026.
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