Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are changing the middle-class job market, but who will benefit, who will be hurt, and the scale of those changes is still unknown. In this 21st century market, the degree to which workers, their families, and their communities adapt to the new technologies of automation and AI will depend on how public policy, private institutions, and businesses evolve to support them.
On Thursday, December 12, the Future of the Middle Class Initiative at the Brookings Institution hosted an event focused on how advances in automation and AI affect and interact with labor force decisions and key labor market features such as minimum wages, the earned income tax credit, and unions. The event featured new scholarly research and keynote remarks from Senior Editor and Economics Columnist at The Economist Ryan Avent.
View summaries of each of paper presented at this conference here.
Presentation: A tale of two workers – The macroeconomics of automation
Presentation: Automation, organized labor, and the employment trajectories of workers in routine jobs- Evidence from U.S. panel data
Keynote address
Presentation: The evolution of technological substitution in low-wage labor markets
Agenda
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December 12
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Welcome
Stephanie Aaronson Senior Associate Director, Division of Research and Statistics - Federal Reserve Board -
Presentation: Automation – A guide for policymakers
Presenter
James Bessen Executive Director, Technology & Policy Research Initiative - Boston University @JamesBessenDiscussant
Marcus Casey Nonresident Fellow - Economic Studies, Center for Economic Security and Opportunity @MarcDCase -
Presentation: A tale of two workers – The macroeconomics of automation
Presenter
Henry Siu Professor - Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia, Faculty Research Fellow - NBERDiscussant
Gabriel Mathy Assistant Professor, Economics - American University -
Presentation: Automation, organized labor, and the employment trajectories of workers in routine jobs- Evidence from U.S. panel data
Discussant
Sarah Reber Cabot Family Chair - Economic Studies, Senior Fellow - Center for Economic Security and Opportunity @econsarahreber -
Keynote address
Ryan Avent Senior Editor and Economics Columnist - The Economist -
Presentation: The evolution of technological substitution in low-wage labor markets
Presenter
Brian Phelan Associate Professor and Driehaus Fellow, Department of Economics - DePaul UniversityDiscussant
Olugbenga Ajilore Senior Economist - Center for American Progress -
Closing remarks
Marcus Casey Nonresident Fellow - Economic Studies, Center for Economic Security and Opportunity @MarcDCase
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