Abstract:

In the era of artificial intelligence, the trend of “machines replacing humans” is becoming increasingly fierce, and the large-scale application of robots has had a profound impact on China’s labor market. This study constructs a measure of urban industrial robot penetration as an indicator of robot adoption using data from IFR and other sources. A balanced panel dataset covering 285 cities from 2006 to 2019 is developed to empirically examine the impact of robot adoption on labor income share and its underlying mechanisms. The findings reveal that robot adoption significantly promotes the growth of urban labor income share, and this conclusion is robust to a series of sensitivity tests and endogeneity analyses. Mechanism analysis indicates that robot adoption facilitates industrial restructuring, thereby enhancing labor income share. Heterogeneity analysis shows that robot adoption has a significant positive effect on labor income share in the service sector, eastern regions, and cities with moderate to high levels of service sector development, while it exerts a significant negative impact on labor income share in the manufacturing sector and its sub-industries, western regions, and cities with lower levels of service sector development. This study provides valuable policy implications for local governments in promoting intelligent technology adoption, optimizing industrial structures, and adjusting income distribution.

Key words: industrial robot, robot application, labor income share, industrial structure transformation