A new article by Piotr Lewandowski and Wojciech Szymczak from the Institute for Structural Research (IBS), based on research carried out within the WeLaR project, has been published in Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society. The study examines how different automation technologies affect atypical employment across 13 EU countries from 2006 to 2018.
The authors find that while industrial robots do not reduce overall employment, they increase involuntary atypical employment, particularly through fixed-term contracts. They also show that strong trade unions can mitigate the negative effects of automation on job quality, whereas employment protection legislation plays a minimal role.
The paper also finds that investments in software and databases increase employment and have no effect on atypical work.
