Automation, artificial intelligence, and job displacement in the U.S., 2019–22

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) as many employers sought to save on labor costs and mitigate labor shortages amid widespread illness and market pressures to onshore supply chains. These technologies offer potential efficiencies, but their rapid integration raises concerns about exacerbating structural inequalities in the labor market. Automation tends to impact jobs that involve routine tasks, which are often held by Black and Latino or Hispanic workers. This paper explores how the pandemic-induced surge in automation and AI impacted workers in the U.S. between 2019 and 2022, leading to higher unemployment rates and economic instability in some industries. While existing research has mainly explored how automation and AI may displace non-specialized jobs, there has until recently been less work on how this displacement may interact with preexisting structural issues around racial inequality. Our findings indicate that Black and Latino or Hispanic workers are overrepresented in roles more susceptible to automation and AI. Therefore, wider adoption of these technologies may intensify preexisting disparities in the labor market. Further, on average, workers employed in occupations that have a lower susceptibility to automation earned higher wages and experienced greater employment stability during the pandemic.