Unions and Automation
Future of Labor Term Paper, 2022
In this paper we examine the effects of labor unions on the adoption of automation using a difference-in-difference approach utilizing variation in Midwest states adopting Right-to-Work (RTW) laws. We find that RTW states have on average 0.3361 more robots per thousand workers than non-RTW states, which is significant at the 1% level. Since RTW laws are a proxy for weaker unions, this suggests that unions decrease automation; however, this estimate is not casual due to problems with the parallel trends assumption and non-exogenous adoption of RTW laws.