Presentation by Anna MILANEZ, Labour Market Economist at the OECD at the 13th OECD Spatial Productivity Lab meeting held on 11 May 2021 in virtual format.

1. What happened to jobs at high
risk of automation?
Meeting on spatial productivity for regional and local development
Organised by the OECD Trento Centre for Local Development and the OECD Spatial
Productivity Lab in collaboration with the Productivity Partnership
11 May 2021
Anna Milanez
Labour economist
Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs

2. A significant share of jobs are at high risk of automation;
an even greater share will change significantly
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
High risk of automation Significant risk of change

3. 3
Finding #1: Countries with higher automation risk have
seen not seen lower employment growth
NOR
FIN
SWE
USA
DNK
GBR
EST
ITA
CZE
NLD
BEL
DEU
FRA
IRL
AUT
LTU
POL
ESP
GRC SVN
SVK
-5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
% employment change
Risk of automation

4. Finding #2: Employment growth has been lower in
occupations at high risk of automation
4
Health professionals
Teaching professionals
Information and communications
technology professionals
Information and communications technicians
Clerical support
workers
Personal care workers
Skilled agricultural
workers
Skilled forestry, fishery
and hunting workers
Drivers and mobile plant operators
Food preparation
assistants
-20%
-10%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Average
%
employment
change
(unweighted)
Average risk of automation (unweighted)