Are we yet sick of new technologies?: the unequal health effects of digitalization
This study quantifies the relationship between workplace digitalization, i.e., the increasing use of frontier technologies, and workers’ health outcomes using novel and representative German linked employer-employee data. Based on changes in individual-level use of technologies between 2011 and 2019...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Book/Monograph Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
London
Centre for Economic Policy Research
12 March 2024
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| Series: | Discussion paper series / Centre for Economic Policy Research Labour economics and organizational economics
DP18913 |
| In: |
Discussion papers (DP18913)
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Verlag, Deutschlandweit zugänglich: https://cepr.org/system/files/publication-files/DP18913.pdf Verlag, Deutschlandweit zugänglich: https://cepr.org/publications/dp18913 
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| Author Notes: | Melanie Arntz, Sebastian Findeisen, Stephan Maurer and Oliver Schlenke |
| Summary: | This study quantifies the relationship between workplace digitalization, i.e., the increasing use of frontier technologies, and workers’ health outcomes using novel and representative German linked employer-employee data. Based on changes in individual-level use of technologies between 2011 and 2019, we find that digitalization induces similar shifts into more complex and service-oriented tasks across all workers, but exacerbates health inequality between cognitive and manual workers. Unlike more mature, computer-based technologies, frontier technologies of the recent technology wave substantially lower manual workers’ subjective health and increase sick leave, while leaving cognitive workers unaffected. We provide evidence that the effects are mitigated in firms that provide training and assistance in the adjustment process for workers. |
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| Physical Description: | Online Resource |