• 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.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.67 no.1
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• pp.83-107
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• 2015

The present study examines the development of self-esteem from young adulthood to old age, as well as predictors of change in self-esteem over time. The eight waves of Korean Welfare Panel Data(KOWEPS) were used for analyses, and a nationally representative sample of 15,511 individual aged 19 years and above were included. The multilevel growth curve model was specified to address the research questions. The result shows that the self-esteem trajectory differed across different age groups with those in early adulthood and adulthood showed an increasing linear trajectories while the old age showed a declining slope. Furthermore, predictors of changes in self-esteem also differed across the age groups that while depression and relationship variables were constant in predicting self-esteem change for all three age groups, some variables such as marital status, poverty status, and employment status predicted individuals in certain age groups. Such results demonstrate the need to understand and examine the change in self-esteem at the individual level.