Measuring Exposure to Automation : A Survey Approach

I investigate the reliability of using survey data to capture workers' experiences of automation. I survey 4,070 US residents and find that respondents' self-reported exposure to automation predicts changes in occupational employment at least as reliably as the widely-used expert-derived measure, Routine Task Intensity (RTI). Moreover, I find that self-reported exposure improves on RTI by distinguishing between negative and positive employment outcomes from automation, and by better capturing exposure to automation of non-routine tasks. These findings suggest that a survey approach could provide new insights that would improve our understanding of the economic and political challenges associated with automation