Africa-Press – Rwanda. Technological progress has allowed people to make a lot of things quicker, easier and more reliable. But it seems that the attempts to place robots at the service of humanity have a downside.
Industrial robots help American workers to avoid injuries but increase the number of drug- or alcohol-related deaths and mental health problems, a new study published in Labour Economics has found.
According to the study, a one standard deviation increase in robot exposure reduces work-related annual injury rates by approximately 1.2 cases per 100 workers.
But less physical injuries apparently mean more mental health issues, since such robot exposure also resulted in an increase of 37.8 cases per 100,000 workers in drug or alcohol-related deaths.
The results were a little different for German workers, though. In Germany, the study showed that a one standard deviation change in robot exposure led to a 4% decline in physical job intensity and a 5% decline in disability. However, there were no particular side effects on mental health or life satisfaction.
The explanation might be due to the differences in German employment laws, according to the scientists. “Robot exposure did not cause disruptive job losses in Germany; Germany has a much higher employment protection legislation,” Giuntella explained. “Our findings suggests that, in contexts where workers were less protected, competition with robots was associated with a rise in mental health problems.”
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