UNU-MERIT Working Papers Series

Innovation and the labor market: Theory, evidence and challenges

Nicoletta Corrocher, Daniele Moschella, Jacopo Staccioli & Marco Vivarelli #2023-021

This paper deals with the complex relationship between innovation and the labor market, analyzing the impact of new technological advancements on overall employment, skills and wages. After a critical review of the extant literature and the available empirical studies, novel evidence is presented on the distribution of labor-saving automation (namely robotics and AI), based on natural language processing of US patents. This mapping shows that both upstream high-tech providers and downstream users of new technologies—such as Boeing and Amazon—lead the underlying innovative effort.

Keywords: Innovation, Technological Change, Skills; Wages, Technological Unemployment

JEL classification: O33

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