Will the AI revolution be labour-friendly? Some micro evidence from the supply side
Giacomo Damioli, Vincent Van Roy, Daniel Vertesy & Marco Vivarelli
#2021-016
This study investigates the possible job-creation impact of AI
technologies, focusing on the supply side, namely the providers of the
new knowledge base. The empirical analysis is based on a worldwide
longitudinal dataset of 3,500 front-runner companies that patented the
relevant technologies over the period 2000-2016. Obtained from GMM-SYS
estimates, our results show a positive and significant impact of AI
patent families on employment, supporting the labour-friendly nature of
product innovation in the AI supply industries. However, this effect is
small in magnitude and limited to service sectors and younger firms,
which are the leading actors of the AI revolution. Finally, some
evidence of increasing returns seems to emerge; indeed, the innovative
companies which are more focused on AI technologies are those obtaining
the larger impacts in terms of job creation.
Keywords: Innovation, technological change, patents, employment,
job-creation.
JEL classification: O33