Ai and Employment in Europe

7 Pages Posted: 7 Oct 2024

See all articles by Dario Guarascio

Dario Guarascio

Sapienza University of Rome

Jelena Reljic

Sapienza University of Rome

Abstract

This paper contributes to the growing research on AI’s labour market impact by presenting novel evidence on the heterogeneous employment effects of AI across EU countries from 2012 to 2022. While concerns persist about AI’s disruptive potential, our findings show that occupations more exposed to AI technologies experience stronger employment growth, all else being equal. However, these effects are not uniform across the EU. Positive employment outcomes are concentrated in Innovation Leaders (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden) and Strong Innovators (Austria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Ireland and Luxembourg), emphasising the context-dependent nature of AI’s impact. These findings reflect the uneven distribution of innovation capabilities, with a country’s innovation system and ‘absorptive capacity’ playing a crucial role in fully harnessing AI’s potential for employment (and economic) growth. Ultimately, this research challenges the notion of AI as universally beneficial or harmful, highlighting its asymmetric effects across countries and occupations.

Keywords: AI, Employment, Europe

Suggested Citation

Guarascio, Dario and Reljic, Jelena, Ai and Employment in Europe. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4977989 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4977989

Dario Guarascio (Contact Author)

Sapienza University of Rome ( email )

Rome
Italy

Jelena Reljic

Sapienza University of Rome ( email )

Piazzale Aldo Moro 5
Roma, Rome 00185
Italy

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
126
Abstract Views
205
Rank
459,858
PlumX Metrics