The low-skilled unemployment rate and automation

Automation among companies is expected to destroy repetitive and therefore low-skilled jobs, leading to an increase in the low-skilled unemployment rate. But automation can also make companies more efficient, leading to additional income that generates more low-skilled job creation. Which is the dominant effect of automation on low-skilled unemployment: the negative direct effect or the positive indirect effect? A comparison of OECD countries shows that a high degree of automation increases per capita income and does not reduce the total employment rate. But it is associated with a low employment rate and a high unemployment rate among the low-skilled.