• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.73-90
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• 2023

This research examines the impact of robotics integration on job dynamics in the U.S. manufacturing sector, adding to the critical dialogue on technological evolution and the future of jobs. Anchored in the task-model framework, the study hypothesizes that robotic integration exerts differential influences on diverse occupational clusters, each identified by their unique task-specific attributes. An in-depth examination was undertaken to elucidate the interplay between robotic integration and the occupation clusters. Employing a multilevel growth curve model, our empirical investigation tracked employment dynamics from 2012 to 2022 across 52 U.S. regions, covering 307 manufacturing occupations. The findings suggest a pronounced job decline within occupations necessitating manual dexterity. Nonetheless, the evidence does not conclusively support that the extent of robotics integration exacerbates this trend. These findings imply that the employment shifts in the U.S. manufacturing sector are predominantly driven by long-standing trends of deindustrialization and functional specialization, rather than by the recent diffusion of robotic technologies.